Holding Out For A Hero
by cbssoapsgirl
Summary: Talk or don't talk? Love or don't love?
1. Bar

_"It has to be unanimous. If you say no, we don't do it. We all have to decide to do it together."_ Cyrus's words stung her ears at the memory of it. Rigging an election was more than illegal; it was treason. Olivia wanted Fitz to win but she wanted him to win the right way. The legal way. The way they wanted him to win, to ensure that he did indeed win, wasn't something she ever thought she would do. The idea of rigging an election seemed too farfetched but Hollis 'knew a guy' so it would be possible for a price. Mostly a piece of her soul but that was the price to pay if she wanted him to win.

Olivia sat at a bar in downtown D.C. drinking. Lately it seemed to be very helpful to her. It was her twelfth night in a row at this bar. She had learned the bartender's name and he made sure that her drinks were filled until it seemed she would pass out soon. Normally she would only drink a bottle of wine a night but lately she had been so down that wine wouldn't help. By now, she was on her fourth shot of tequila. She already had two shots of whiskey, bourbon, and vodka. Liv was more than tipsy but not quite drunk yet. She didn't talk to anyone except the bartender. Men had come up to offer to buy her a drink but she would only ignore them.

It was nearly ten at night when she had arrived. She'd been there for an hour, downing drinks like it was the last night she'd be able to live. When she lifted her head off the counter to look at the bartender, she saw the man she never wanted to speak to again. He called her a criminal, a whore, a liar in a matter of seconds with no evidence to prove she was. She grabbed her purse and slid her coat on hoping to get by unnoticed. She handed the bartender a fifty and told him to keep it. When she stood to get off the chair, Olivia lost her balance and went face first to the floor. As elegantly as she could she got up stumbling to get to her feet and headed to the door, but she couldn't make it.

"Olivia," Edison called her name from inches in front of her. She didn't look at his face as she poised herself to continue walking. She noted that his suit was gone and he was only wearing jeans and a casual t-shirt. "Let me help you." Edison went to grab her hand to help her steady but she slapped it away. "Still difficult I see." Olivia ignored his comment as she tried to get passed him. After a few tries, he stepped aside and let her walk out but followed behind her.

"Quit following me," she demanded as she headed over to her car. Liv opened the front driver's door and got in. She tried to close the door but Edison stood in her way. She went to put the key in the ignition but he was faster and took her keys away. "What are you doing?"

"We may not be involved or love each other anymore but I still care about you being alive. You can't drive home in your condition. You are too drunk to even go to the next block. I'll call you a cab," he said. He pulled out his cell phone and looked for a cab company. Before he could dial a man in a black suit with an ear piece in his right ear appeared and told him to step aside and not to bother calling. Edison looked at the man for several minutes before he left Olivia and went back inside the bar.

The black suited man appeared closer to Olivia and she could see who it was. She held out her hand for her keys but he shook his head no. "I'll be fine. You know that my apartment is only about two miles from here. I won't die before that."

"I'm sorry Ms. Pope. I can't let you drive. It would be very dangerous for both you and anyone on the road. Please come with me," he said. He didn't give her much of an option when he said it. To her, it sounded more of an order. She sat back in the driver's seat and crossed her arms in protest. "I'm only trying to do my job. He makes it difficult for anyone of us that he sends to come get you."

"You better be only taking me back to my apartment Tom." Olivia's tone was definitive that she did not want to go anywhere else. All the shots she had done within an hour were starting to get to her. It was worse this time, since she hadn't ate since eleven that morning.

"I'm sorry Ms. Pope, he wants to see you."

"Of course he does."


	2. Vacation

Olivia followed Tom down the hallway to the office. She didn't want to see him, she wasn't sure what he wanted now but she was about to find out. "Hello, Dad." She stood in front of her father's desk waiting for him to say something. Liv was feeling a bit sick for the alcohol but she had to stand and wait for her father to open his mouth for something.

"You don't drink. Only wine, nothing stronger. So what's with the drinking? My daughter doesn't drink," Eli told her. He sat at his desk and motioned for her to take a seat but she continued standing. "Care to explain?"

Olivia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I haven't been 'your daughter' in a long time. 14 years to be exact. I can drink whatever, whenever, however I please. It's none of your business. What do you want?"

"I would like to make sure that my child is safe. I heard that you were going to drive home drunk. Possibly killing yourself is not something I need for you. You've been drinking for weeks now. Is it because of him?"

"That's why you dragged me down here? To ask if I was drinking because of him? I drink for many reasons. Maybe one of them is him. I have many different problems that I can take care of, it just takes time. So to pass time, I drink. If it was you, you'd just ignore me. That's how you'd pass your time, you've done it very well. Let's go back to you ignoring me. I liked that so much better than you threatening me and trying to hurt the people I love."

"Olivia, I do want the best for you. I may have a crap way of showing it but I do. Have a seat, I'll get you some coffee." Eli left the room and came back a few minutes later with fresh coffee for her. "So this is about him though, at least most of it?" Olivia slowly nodded her head as she sipped her coffee. "I've got a hole I can throw him in. Or a few people who can beat the shit out of him. Whatever you want." She laughed and set her coffee down so it didn't spill.

"Thanks, Dad. But I'm pretty positive that having the President of the United States thrown into a cement hole in the ground in some place that isn't supposed to exist is probably not the best idea. But I do appreciate the offer. So why am I really here?"

Eli handed Olivia her coffee again. "Drink that, you'll feel better. I thought we might be able to discuss you taking a vacation from work and the city. You're drinking is getting a bit out of hand and you should just relax for a bit without the help of liquor. Don't worry about your team at OPA or anything like that. I'm not going to stick in somewhere that I don't belong. You have my word."

"I was thinking about going on vacation for a week. OPA will be fine but I want your absolute promise that you will not go anywhere near anyone there or at the White House." Eli swore that he wouldn't do anything. "I'm leaving in the morning and I'll be gone until next Sunday. I suppose that I will talk to you later when I return."

Eli stood up and patted her shoulder. "You need the rest, you are looking rather tired. Enjoy your vacation. Tom will take you home."

Olivia finished her coffee and went back to her apartment with Tom. She packed a bag for the week and went to bed. In the morning she called for a driver. She told him where to go and settled in for the drive.

After several hours in the car the driver pulled up to the driveway and she walked up to the house. Fitz gave her a key to the house in Vermont and she went in. She had the driver stop to get some groceries before they arrived and she put them away. When Liv got everything settled into the bedroom, she went to the living room and sat down on the couch with a blanket and relaxed for a while.


	3. Orchard

It was nearly sunrise when Olivia woke up on the couch the next morning. She could see the sun starting to peek out from behind the trees of the orchard in the back yard. Liv folded her blanket and put in back on the bed in the master bedroom before going into the kitchen and making her some eggs.

She was finally alone in the peacefulness of the Vermont home. The only interruptions she would have would be her thoughts. All Olivia wanted to do was go back to think of where it all went wrong. She knew she shouldn't have asked Edison for any help with Thorngate, Fitz wouldn't have liked that. But she asked anyway. Liv's mind went back further; she shouldn't have helped Amanda but she did. Going back further, she shouldn't have agreed to rig an election. But what it all lead back to: she shouldn't have agreed to help Cyrus make a President. If she never helped Cyrus, none of this would have ever happened.

Olivia sat down and ate her breakfast with a wine chaser alone. If she didn't agree to help Cyrus, her life would be very different by now. OPA might have never happened. She might be happy with someone and married. Possibly even have children. Lately though, she couldn't imagine her life without Fitz. The good and the bad were something that she would have to take because it was her fault.

After she finished eating she got dressed in her comfortable flat shoes, jeans and a warm sweater. She couldn't think of what she should be doing because she hadn't been on a vacation in so long. Liv took a walk through the house imagining what it would be like if it was filled with the children she and Fitz planned on having.

One bedroom was painted a pale pink. As she stood in the doorway she could see her two daughters playing with their dolls on the floor together arguing over whose Barbie got to wear the pretty pink dress.

Liv walked a bit further down the hall and opened another bedroom door. Fitz had intended for this bedroom to be their son's. It was painted blue with a baseball field on one wall. In her mind, she could see their son working on his homework on the bed while he listened to the game on the TV.

She continued walking and sat on the stairs to walk downstairs. A smile came across her face as she imagined her and Fitz having a ridiculous argument over whose turn it was to do the dishes and clean the table after dinner.

Olivia went back to the living room and sat on the couch with a pad of paper and a pen. She started making a list of all the things she had done wrong in her life, starting with the most recent.

"What the hell are you doing here?" a loud voice scared her nearly to death. She jumped off the couch and turned to see who it was. Fitz stood in his suit by the kitchen counter staring at her. He looked more pissed off than relieved that she was there. She stood silent for a minute. "Well? What the hell are you doing here?"

Olivia stood straight before she spoke. "I was just getting away for the week. I didn't think that it'd be a problem for me to come here."

"Get out, now. It's not your house, get out now." She stood grounded to the spot listening to him. As she made no attempt to move, Fitz took a step closer to her. His hands were curled into fists almost as if he was going to hurt her if he got any closer. "NOW."

As quickly as she could she slipped out the back and took off into the orchard. She wandered around for a bit before she got too tired and sat under a tree. The wind blew her hair back before she put the hood up on her sweater.

She had been walking for a couple hours and was lost in the orchard now. No cell phone with her and no direction to turn she decided to just sit until she came up with a plan. Fitz was pissed at her for just being in the house so there was no doubt in her mind that he would think to look for her. No one knew where she was. She was stuck there. If she could find the road she might be able to walk to the town a few miles away and call a car to come get her and take her back to D.C.

Olivia got up and started to walk in one direction she hoped would be a way to the road. It took her a while but she did get back to the road. She started to walk down the road, holding her arms across her chest to keep warm. November in Vermont was pretty chilly especially without a coat. Liv walked a bit further before a car pulled up next to her.

"Get in the car," Fitz said as he rolled the back window down. Olivia paused and looked at Fitz before she kept walking. "I said get in the car." She kept walking ahead. Fitz leaned forward and told Tom to stop the car. When he did, Fitz got out and went around to her. "Get in the car now." Liv didn't even stop when he followed her. Fitz forcefully grabbed Olivia's arm and pulled her to the car. He opened the door and threw her in. "I said get in the car." He closed the door and went to the other side and got in.

Tom took them back to the house. Fitz got out and went up to the master bedroom. Unsure of what to do, Olivia sat in the car a few minutes before deciding to go back into the house. She sat at the counter and waited for anything to happen. She had hoped that Fitz would come down and talk with her but she doubted that would happen.

On the counter, she noticed the list she made earlier sitting on the other side with more than her writing. She pulled it over to her and read it.

Telling Fitz about Mellie's rape

Thinking of resigning

Not telling Fitz about sleeping with Jake

Sleeping with Jake

Asking Fitz for help with Mom

Helping Josie

Helping a bomber in the Pentagon

Helping Jeannine

Sleeping with Jake

Not telling Fitz the truth

Going against Fitz

Helping Mellie fake Fitz being awake

Leaving Fitz

Helping Mellie decide to get pregnant

Thorngate

Helping Amanda

Leaving Fitz

Defiance

Making an unknown sex cd with Fitz

Falling in love with Fitz

Meeting Fitz

Agreeing to help Cyrus

Olivia saw that against several on her list, Fitz had wrote Treason on them. On several he had wrote Forgivable next to them. And on Defiance he had wrote the worst one for her: Betrayal.

She sat and looked at the list for several minute before she noticed that tears had come against the paper making it wet.

Liv went upstairs and knocked on the door. "Can we talk?"


	4. Talk

"Fitz, please, can we talk? Or at least listen to me talk? It's really hard to talk to a door," Olivia asked. She didn't hear any movement on the other side of the door so she sat on the floor across from it. "I get you don't want to talk to me, I guess. I'm not exactly sure why but I can accept that you don't want to talk. There's a lot of things going on with you right now. I'm sure you're still upset with me for not telling you sooner about Mellie's rape. Or anything with that. I know you're upset with me. We can work through this or whatever you want. If you want me to leave, just tell me. I'll leave here, I'll leave D.C. and I won't come back if that's what you want. Fitz, I just want to do what's best for you, even if it hurts me. I'll go somewhere else and you won't have to worry about me. Please, just tell me what you want me to do. Do you want me to leave and not come back? Do you want me to stay in D.C. but not talk to you or have anything to do with your administration? I'll do that. I can leave D.C. You won't have to worry about seeing me at any functions again. I won't even tell Cyrus where I'm going so he won't be able to tell you. Damn it, Fitz, just tell me what you want!" She started crying harder. Liv put her head between her legs trying to breathe.

It took a few minutes but Fitz finally opened the door. "If you leave anywhere, I will find you. And if I don't, I might have to kill myself. Life without you is meaningless." He leaned against the doorframe and watched her. "You can't leave D.C., too many people count on you and OPA. I count on you and OPA. I am not mad at you. I just can't handle being around anyone right now. I didn't know you were going to be here."

"I can go. I can go somewhere else for a vacation. Tahiti, Hawaii, somewhere else I guess. I didn't know you were even going anywhere. And definitely not here. I can…"

"Your list was too long," Fitz said as he slid to the floor. "I'm assuming it's your list of things you think you've done wrong."

"How did you know?"

"Because I know you. I know what you think you've done wrong and what you think you've done that were right. Telling me about Mellie's rape was the right thing to do. You don't need to be forgiven for that. No one alive needs to be forgiven for that. Thinking of resigning, well I'm glad I was able to stop you before you did that. Not telling me about sleeping with Jake, that was just a slap in the face."

"Fitz, I'm sorry. I was going to tell you. I didn't want you to find out that way. I shouldn't have slept with him to begin with."

"Asking me for help with Maya is forgivable. I do forgive you for that. You needed my help to help someone you thought was innocent. We both thought she was. The lives she took on that plane and beyond are on me. It's my fault. You were right to help Josie. That doesn't need forgiveness. Helping a bomber in the Pentagon is treason. But you saved many lives, including your own. You had me worried sick about you and I couldn't come get you. I wanted to come save you from your own stupidity but I couldn't. Helping Jeannine with the confusion of sleeping with me, that doesn't need forgiveness. Sleeping with Jake and getting hurt for it is forgiven. I shouldn't have had him watching you to begin with. It was my fault that you got hurt. Going against me isn't something to be forgiven. If you feel that you need to go against me, then do it. No matter what, we always find out way back to each other and we'll do it over and over and over again." Olivia smiled at him and moved so she could cross her legs and lean toward him.

"That seems to be true. We find each other in any situation. It just may take a while for us to get back to each other."

"But we have. It took us two years for you to come back to me and all that was because of Amanda," Fitz shook his head. "You helping Mellie convince America that I was awake was also treason. I know you did it to keep her out of prison but it was still treason. Leaving me was something that I forgave long ago. Helping Mellie pull a stunt like getting pregnant was evil and conniving. I wanted to leave her and if you hadn't stuck your nose in, I would be divorced by now and we would be married living here. Thorngate was also treason. You can't steal from the NSA and help the man who did it. Luckily I was able to protect you from that. Helping Amanda and leaving me is all forgiven. It was long ago. Defiance was also treason. All of you committed treason. And for the stupidest reason. Me being President isn't worth all of you going to jail. Neither of us knew about that sex tape, so you can't be forgiven for that. Falling in love with me, meeting me, and agreeing to help Cyrus run my campaign are all things that I hope you don't regret. I regret attempting to fire you but I love Cyrus for making me see that you are the light. I never would have won, even legally without you. I needed your help. Loving you wasn't part of my plan but I do."

"I don't regret them. Meeting you is the highlight of my life. You saved me from Edison and the life I was going to have with him. If Cyrus hadn't called me to help run your campaign, I probably would have taken Edison back and we'd be married and he'd be cheating on me all the time but it would be something that I wouldn't notice because I'd be too busy with the two children we had."

"Well I am certainly glad that did not happen. I can't see you being married to him and having his children."

Olivia nodded in agreement. "You said you aren't mad at me but you haven't spoken to me in weeks."

"I know, I'm sorry about that. You do need to stop drinking though. You made me stop drinking, now I'll make you. Go back to wine. Enough of the tequila, vodka, whiskey, all of it. Stop drinking it."

"How did you kn…" Olivia sat back against the wall. "You've had me followed again."

"Yes, and I won't apologize for it. I needed to know that you were safe. Especially if you were going to drink. And it seems as though I was right to do it. You drove drunk several times and you had a run in with Edison."

"You weren't mad at me or anything like that, so why come here and yell for me to get out?"

"The test came back, the real test, for the DNA on the kids. None of them are mine."


	5. Divorce

"None of them are mine. It sucks. I've been raising three kids that aren't even mine. Jerry was actually my brother. Now he's dead. I tried to help Karen get through it but she was closer to Jerry than she was to anyone. Teddy, of course, he's too young to remember Jerry. We've all gotten through it. I know that we'll all miss him. Karen and Teddy aren't mine either. They are both Andrew's. My wife's a fucking slut. She shut me down and ruined our marriage but she can go out and screw anyone she wants and get pregnant. But if I do it, it's disgusting and vial," Fitz said.

Olivia sat on the floor of the hall listening to him. She knew he didn't mean it intentionally but she could help but feel degraded. She started to worry a little that maybe she was just a scratch he needed to itch but she was too afraid to ask for fear that her thought was true. Liv pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"She never told me about being raped and that should have been the very first thing out of her mouth when she saw me that night. I blame myself for all of this. It's my fault, but more my father's, that my marriage has been over for so long. I'm over fifty and have raised 3 children that don't belong to me. But I love them all. My wife the whore has a piece of ass on the side but I can't. What a hypocrite. She's been screwing Andrew for years and I've been with you for maybe four. Every time she has gone to California to visit the kids she was with Andrew. Mellie wanted me in the White House, but she wanted the whole shebang. The cake and to eat it. I've been dealing with my whole situation of not actually being a father and I wasn't talking to anyone. I threw Mellie's shit into Blair House and told her not to come back to the White House for anything. I don't want her within five miles of me but I'm the damn President and I can't have everything I want. It seems like I've never had anything I've wanted. I can't have the children I've raised, I can't have a loyal wife, I can't have a divorce... I can't even have the one person that I truly love with everything in me."

Liv looked at him and took his hand. "I… you can have what you want. It's just difficult. Eventually we will all get what we want. If you want to divorce Mellie now, I'll help with that. I can convince Cyrus it's the right thing to do and we will keep track of your polls and keep you ahead of the game. We will just have to work on pushing some positive bills through to create you in a better light. I can have everything worked out so that Mellie signs the divorce papers as quickly and quietly as possible. If you want my help, just tell me. Whatever you want. If you want me as some piece of ass on the side, I can work with that or if you want me completely, I'm okay with that too but we need to set up some sort of agreement for whatever we're going to do."

Fitz pulled her to him and pinned her to the floor and climbed on top of her. He bent down and kissed her. "I told you I wasn't in the mood to be around people. But I can't have you stomping off to parts unknown around here. Someone might recognize you and pick you up on the side of the road and take you away from me. I can't let go of the one thing that I have left." Before she could say anything he leaned down and kissed her again. "You are not some piece of ass that I get on the side or some whore. You are the only person I love entirely; I can't do anything without you anymore. I just realized I said some things that might have upset you and I don't want that to be the case. What we do together, it's not disgusting or vial. It's just what she makes it to be and it's so far from the truth. It's passionate and loving. Because we do love each other. It's hard not to love you." Again, he bent down and kissed her. "I want a divorce from her. The second you can make that happen and the papers are legal, you and I are going somewhere far away and getting married. I won't risk losing you again. And at least I'll know that if you did run from me again, we'd be married so no other man could have you."

Olivia sat up and kissed him. "Is that really what you think I would do? Marry you and leave?"

"Livie, you've left me too many times that I don't want to risk it. When we're married the only way for you to run is to divorce me and it will be over my dead body that I sign a divorce agreement with you. When we're married, you're stuck with me."

"I wouldn't be able to leave you. I already can't anymore. It's exhausting running from you and I don't have the energy to do it anymore. When we get married you're going to have to deal with me for life. Whatever issues come up we can figure them out together."

"We'll need to get Cyrus on board fast. I want her gone by the end of the week."

"Sorry, Mr. President. I'm on vacation. It'll have to wait until I get back on Monday."

"Then I'll go back on Tuesday."


	6. Secret

"Do you want breakfast?" Olivia asked him on their second day of staying in Vermont together. He trapped her underneath him when she tried to get out of bed. He groaned in response to her. "You know that we have to get up and eat something. Secret service isn't paid to bring us food in bed, especially when we're naked."

"They are paid to do what I say. So technically they are paid to do that," Fitz told her.

She let out a sigh and lay back in the bed. "We'll have to face reality soon. We both have to go back to D.C. and do what we're supposed to."

"Livie, please don't ruin this. Going back only means that I have to be away from you and I don't want to. Let's stay here forever and not tell anyone where we are."

"Don't you think the country would get a bit suspicious if the President hasn't been seen for several days? The economy would drain. People would freak out. CIA, FBI, NSA, and every other security agency will fall apart. Everything would explode."

"And it would rain cats and dogs. I know, I get the same speech from Cyrus every time. Which brings me to another subject that I don't want to discuss but we have to. But first, let's get some breakfast."

Olivia rolled out from under him and put on her bathrobe before going to start making food. Fitz followed soon after and sat at the counter watching her. "What did we need to discuss?"

"Cyrus. I didn't tell him I was here. So far, he thinks I'm at Camp David and not to be disturbed. You are going to help make this divorce happen right?"

"I told you I'd do whatever you needed me to do."

"I don't want Cyrus to know about the divorce. I want it to be a secret."

"You want me to be a secret? I guess…"

"No, I don't want you to be a secret. I'm tired of keeping you a secret. I want you to be by my side as my wife. But I don't want to hear all the bad things about what will happen if I divorce Mellie from Cyrus. I just want this to be an easy divorce. Is there any way you can make that happen?"

Olivia looked at him, "you're not asking for my help, you're asking for OPA's help."

"I'd demand it, if I thought it might get me somewhere but I need this as a favor under the table. I'll still pay you of course but I don't want anyone to know about this."

"My team all has confidentiality agreements to the business. And even if they didn't I'd still trust them with my life. How do you suggest we get this to work? You can't just sneak off to OPA all the time or to my apartment without your detail and one of them is sure to tell Mellie. Any ideas?"

"THE Olivia Pope has no ideas?"

"Don't be absurd, of course I know how to do this. I have several ideas on how to work this. I just want to know what you are thinking."

Fitz sat back in the chair. "I was actually hoping to hear your ideas for it. I can't think of them the way that you can. So how are we going to play this?"

Liv sat down next to him and thought for several minutes. "You said Mellie's living at Blaire House?" Fitz nodded yes. "Restrict her access to the White House. If she wants to come back to the White House it has to be cleared through you, and she has to have a detail with her at all times. Someone you trust. Maybe Tom knows someone that is loyal to you and won't open their mouth. Get a detail on Cyrus. Make sure you know everywhere he is going daily. When he is in a meeting and you aren't I can come deliver the files that I need you to sign. Have your attorney contact me at the office and I will work with them myself. If all goes as planned, you'll be divorced in a month. But that's if I can force her hand. I've got her file in the safe at my office and there's plenty in there on her. Plus the things I already know. Consider it handled."


	7. Dismissed

When Fitz got back to the White House from his "Camp David" vacation, he put Olivia's plan into motion. He restricted Mellie's access and replaced her detail with one that Tom was a close friend with. Tom knew that Ben wouldn't cross Fitz's terms and would report to him hourley on the things happening at Blaire House.

"Good morning, Mr. President, you've called for me?" Cyrus asked the day after Fitz's return.

"Yes Cyrus, I need your itinerary for the week. Everything that you will be doing every day for the rest of this week and next. Now please," Fitz requested.

Cyrus was a bit weary of the request since Fitz had never asked for anything like that before. "May I ask why?"

"Sure, because I said so. That should be a good enough reason. Please have Mary bring your agenda over now. Use the phone and have her come down."

"I could just go get it."

"I don't want you changing things on your agenda. I want the real thing. Also, you are being assigned a detail. Things are going to change around here and I don't need your input on it now. We will discuss things when the time is right. Now call Mary."

Cyrus picked up the phone and called down to his secretary to bring his schedule to the Oval. She handed it to Fitz and left the room. Cyrus sat down on the couch while Fitz read it.

"Why are you meeting with Mellie tonight?"

"She made an appointment to see Ella. James asked and thought it was alright. I told him to go with it and I'd be there after work."

"Cancel it; for both of you. Ella is my goddaughter, not her's. She might not be my daughter, but I don't want Mellie poisoning her with all her shit. She's not to be near Ella. I don't even let her near Teddy."

"Fitz, do you know how crazy you sound right now? Mellie is his mother. She's with him right now."

"Actually she's not. Teddy is in the Residence with his nanny. Mellie is staying at Blaire House and is not allowed back unless it is cleared through me."

"I'm sure she's pretty pissed about that. How's that going?"

Before Fitz could respond, Lauren popped her head in the door. "Sorry to interrupt sir."

"Come on in, Lauren. What is it?"

"She's on the line for you. You wanted me to notify you when she called."

"Thank you." Lauren left the room as Fitz picked up the phone. "You're dismissed Cyrus."

"Sir, we have a meeting in ten minutes."

"Dismissed Cyrus," Fitz nearly yelled. He watched Cyrus walk out the door but he didn't notice that Cyrus didn't close it all the way. "Hey, how's it going?"

"You sent me a quack of an attorney. He had no idea what case I was asking about. He had to go back to his office three times, and called two people several times. I hope you have a confidentiality agreement with everyone at that firm. It's ridiculous that he had no idea where the paperwork was. Your prenuptial agreement is lost somewhere in a box I the basement there. He has no idea what he was doing. Then, and this is my favorite part, he asked what business it was of mine to get involved with your affairs."

Fitz couldn't help but laugh. "I see. And it would be all your business. I told them to do whatever you said. He seems to have a listening problem." Fitz could hear people talking outside the door and finally noticed the door wasn't latched. "I'm going to put you on hold real quick." Fitz pressed the hold button putting Olivia on hold and went to close the door. "Cyrus, dismissed means back to work. Lauren, no interruptions." He went back to the phone and sat behind his desk. "So other than my awful attorney, how is your day?"

"Can we not discuss that now? I've been dealing with your attorney for the last 4 hours. I'm getting you a new attorney and firing the one you have. Don't argue, it's already done. I sent Stephen to get any files that have your name on it. As far as that goes, Stephen is you new attorney. Not to worry, he works for me so his confidentiality works for you as well. I've already drawn up that, I need you to sign that along with your dismissal of your previous attorney, also the paperwork of the services of OPA. Not to mention certain people at the White House need new confidentiality agreements. Also, you will need to have Mellie sign a couple of papers; I can discuss them with you later on. Those aren't as important though. Harrison and Abby are working on digging up dirt on Mellie. Huck is working on something he won't tell me about but he says that it's in the best interest of both of us. I trust him though. He'll take care of it. Stephen should be back with your files any minute. I'm working up a list of things that I know about against Mellie. Quinn is making sure that whatever I write down, there is proof to it."

"Hey Livie, do me a favor, stop talking a take a breath. Make sure your breathing. Out loud so I can hear you." They both stopped for a second and listened to each other breathe. Together they were able to breathe in sync. "Hi."

"Hi. All right, I'm breathing. How's it going over there?"

"Cyrus is suspicious. I asked for his agenda and he started with the questions. He's also not keen on having a detail. He said, Mellie asked to see her. She's my goddaughter."

"Correction, she's OUR goddaughter."

"Yes, ours. Mellie doesn't need to see Ella. I don't want Mellie poisoning her against either of us. He was going to take Ella to see her tonight."

"No he wasn't."

"Cyrus said James asked him because Mellie called James to see Ella tonight."

"No, Ella's spending the night with me tonight. James is out of town on an assignment. Cyrus told me he was working late with you and Teddy was sick so they couldn't have a playdate."

"Teddy's not sick. He's fine with the nanny upstairs."

"Mellie doesn't like children. She has no need to see Ella. Something's going on."

"And I'm going to find out."


	8. Odd

Fitz had come up with many reasons that Cyrus would go see Mellie and lie to him about why he was going. All of which were bad ideas. He had enough of thinking about it and went over to Blaire House.

"Why do you want to see Cyrus?" he demanded to know of Mellie.

"I was trying to schedule a time for me to see Ella. She's part of this family too," she lied.

"No, Ella is my family. Mine and Olivia's. Not yours. And I already know that's a lie so what the hell do you need from Cyrus?"

"Fitz, we need to work things out. I can't stay hidden over here forever. People are going to start to wonder where I am and why we aren't even in the same house. You've been acting very strange lately and I thought Cyrus would know why, that's why I asked him over."

"You don't need to be concerned about what I'm doing. People will ask questions, as usual, and I will simply reply that you and I are fighting and you wanted time away. Not to worry, everything is being taken care of."

"I want to see Teddy. He is my son after all. Yes, I know. But for his own safety and to keep his schedule uninterrupted he's staying at the White House with me. He'll be back to see his whore of a mother later on. The nanny will bring him over in an hour for your time with him. Two hours. I won't let you disrupt any more than that."

Mellie threw a tight laugh. "His whore of a mother? I don't see Olivia as his mother."

Fitz started to get angrier every time she spoke of Olivia that way. "You will respect her. She has done a lot for you. It is not her fault that I fell in love with her. None of this is her fault. You have no one to blame but yourself. If you would have said something about the incident with Big Jerry, I would have helped you. Now you're on your own. And your time with Teddy just got cut in half for your smart ass remark."

He stomped out of the room and took the tunnels back to the White House. More than anything now, he wanted to go over to OPA offices and talk with Olivia. He wanted to apologize again to her for waiting so long to divorce Mellie but he knew she wouldn't take it. He went to Cyrus's office and sat down on a chair in front of his desk.

"Mr. President, what can I do for you?"

"I don't want you having contact with my wife."

"Sir? She's very persistent, she keeps calling. It's rather sad. Mary has told her that I am busy and she still insists on calling. Why now?"

"Your detail has been informed to monitor your calls. Any calls from Mellie are to be rejected. If you do take a call from her, you are fired immediately. There will be no more warnings. Contact her and I replace my chief of staff. Are we understood?"

"Crystal."

Pleased with himself, Fitz left and went back to the Oval to continue on his work.

After several hours of only doing work, his mind started to wander back to Olivia. What was she doing right now? Did she actually eat dinner? Was it only wine and popcorn? He couldn't help but think that she hadn't eaten yet. Being the wonderful man he was, he told Tom and Daniel that they were on the move.

Half an hour later, Fitz knocked on the door to Olivia's apartment. When she finally answered the door in her pajama pants and tank top, she wasn't too happy.

"I brought Gettysburger. And your favorite wine. How was your day?" He tried to move past her and into the apartment but she wouldn't move the door any further. Fitz's face turned into a confusion look. "What's wrong?"

"Now is not a good time. I'm just a bit busy. I already ate anyway. But thank you for thinking of me. I need to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Olivia, what's going on? Is someone here?" Fitz turned to Tom, "go in."

"No, no, no. I'm fine. Tom doesn't need to come in. You need to get back to the White House. Please, I'll call you in the morning. Go enjoy Gettysburger at home. I promise, I'll call you tomorrow."

"I'm not okay with this, Olivia. Just let Tom and Daniel in so I know that you're going to be fine."

"I said NO." Her voice got louder and scared Fitz. "I'm sorry, I'll be fine. I'm just going to get some sleep after I finish up here and I'll call you in the morning. Have a good night."

Olivia quickly closed the door and locked all three locks on it. Fitz heard each one click and got even more worried at the idea of danger coming to her. He thought about what he could do but knew it was useless. He turned back to the elevator and got in with the agents.

"Did either of you find that odd too?"

In unison both agents said "Very."


	9. Calls

Olivia got up in the morning and started her daily routine. She checked her cell phone before she went into the bathroom to shower. Fitz had called and left 7 messages. She didn't bother listening to them. Liv headed off to the shower and got ready for the day. She knew she'd have to talk to Fitz sometime today and she wasn't looking forward to it.

Liv had to remember who she was dealing with and how irrational he can be. He was only looking out for her and wanted to protect her but he stepped out of bounds this time.

She got dressed and grabbed her purse deciding to stop at the coffee shop this morning. As she waited in line she listened to her messages from him. Since the last time she looked she now had 15 missed calls and 9 voicemails. Olivia listened to the first three only having Fitz tell her that he would speak to her in the morning and wished her a good night. Throughout the night his messages got a bit longer and more aggravated in tone.

_"I don't see why you can't let Tom in so that I know that you are safe. That's all I want. Call me so I know that you're alright."_

The fourth message sounded a bit more desperate. _"Livie, please, tell me you're okay so I can get some sleep. I won't be able to sleep if you aren't okay. Call me, I don't care what time it is."_

Olivia skipped to the last message from him, only a few minutes before. _"Olivia, quit fucking whatever guy you're fucking and call me back. You can't cheat on me like that. I know there was some guy in your apartment last night. You might as well fess up to it now. I have just as many sources as you do and I will find out what asshole you're screwing. You know that I'm the only one who can tend to your needs and satisfy them. Call me back, dammit. I don't have time to run this country and chase after you. I'm talented but not that fucking talented. Tell the dirt bag you're screwing to get his pants on I'm on my way over now."_

Liv was a bit more than pissed at his last call. Knowing that he couldn't get out of the White House in broad daylight without questions being asked, she raced over to the White House. She passed Morris at the gate without showing her id and headed towards the Oval. She was half way there when she met Fitz in the hallway. He was somewhat surprised to see her and stopped in his tracks. Liv kept walking towards him, slapping him across the face and continuing on to the Oval. She slammed the door closed and started pacing in circles around the couches. It took a few minutes but Fitz came in after her, slamming the door closed as well.

The two stared each other down for several moments, waiting for the other to speak.

"You… I… I don't even know where the hell to begin!" she yelled at him.

"Well, let's start with who you were fucking last night. I can take a guess. I will bet everything I own on Edison Davis. You two have a lot of history; it's only natural that you'd turn to him when something you don't like happens. You run from me enough; he's probably the one you run to. Unless it's Jake. But he's supposed to be on some mission shit overseas. At least, that's where I sent him. Who the hell knows if that's actually where he is. I doubt it was someone from your office, I think you have a bit of self-respect left not to screw the people you work with. I hope you have some respect not to pick up strange men off the street. But what the hell do I know."

Olivia stopped pacing in front of him and crossed her arms staring at him. "Are you done, you prick?" Fitz stared back at her. "You're so damn stupid sometimes. And an ignorant asshole sitting up on your high horse that you think you can own everyone. I didn't sign up for this shit. I said I would help you. It's what you wanted. You don't get to have control over my life. You can't control what I do or when I do it or any of that. Not everything I do has something to do with you. And if you can't handle that then we don't need to be part of anything together. I'm not a remote control toy that you play with. I don't have the time to babysit all of your shit. I'm trying my fucking best to get you what you want in a certain amount of time and without the whole world knowing what I'm doing. I can't play your games."

"Are you done with the self-pity and acting like a slut?"

Olivia's eyes got as big as flying saucers. "You might want to rephrase that right this second, Fitzgerald."

He stood up and looked her directly in the eyes. "You sure as hell were acting like a slut last night. Not letting me in last night was a clue. And if you think I'm stupid enough to believe that you've been abstinent since we've been apart, you've got another thing coming."

"Do you have any idea what you're talking about?"

"I have a pretty good idea. And that's all I need. Just tell me who it was."

"What I was doing had a little to do with you, asshole. And you are way out of line judging who I've been screwing. How's your wife the whore? Still not speaking to her?"

"This is between you and me. Whether or not I have screwed Mellie since we've separated, which I haven't, is not the question. What you were doing last night is what we are discussing. Explain what you were doing."

Olivia laughed and leaned in face to face with him. "What I was doing last night is nowhere close to what you think I was doing. It's none of your business right now, but you'll find out very, very soon. I think after you read your daily briefing and have a visit from someone you'll know exactly what happened last night and why you couldn't come in." Liv turned her back to him and walked out of the Oval and out of the White House to her office.


	10. Done

Fitz sat in the Oval reading over the brief for the day. Cyrus came in and reminded him of his meeting in a few minutes.

"By chance, Cy, were you at Olivia's last night?" Fitz asked him. He had a slight thought that maybe he and Olivia were coming up with some sort of plan for reelection.

"No, I was with Ella. James just came home last night and we spent the night at home. Why do you ask?"

"Don't worry about it. I just thought maybe she was with you last night."

Cyrus told him once again about the meeting and left the room. When he went to close the door, Tom walked in closing it behind him.

"Sir, we have a slight situation."

"If it's about Olivia and her attitude, I'm well aware of that. What would this situation be?" Tom handed Fitz the file and he read through it. "Pick her up and take her to the Residence. Whatever you have to do, just bring her back here."

Tom took off with Daniel and went to OPA. They went through the office and waited for Olivia to finish talking with her team in the conference room. She noticed them standing there waiting and decided to make them wait longer. She told each member exactly what she wanted from them, then went to her office.

"I'm not leaving here," she told them as Huck followed her into her office. "I can assure you too, you can't take me. He will make sure of that. What does he want?"

Tom and Daniel both knew it was going to be a challenge with her today. "Ms. Pope, he just wants to make sure that you're safe. You have a dangerous career and he worries about that. It's only because he loves you."

"I didn't sign up for that shit. He has no right. As for protection, that's what Huck is for. He's well trained at protecting me. And others. I don't want to hear his apologies. He's never going to change. If you'll excuse me, I have clients to attend to."

"Ma'am, you'll have to come with us. We have orders to physically remove you if necessary."

"Don't even think about touching her," Huck chimed in. "You'll regret doing it."

"He's right. I've seen his work. You can tell the President that I am very well protected here. I will continue working on his project to the terms we agreed to. Other than that, I have nothing to say to him."

Huck moved in front of Olivia to make sure that neither agent tried to touch her. Tom and Daniel left her with Huck and went back to the White House.

"He's not going to like this," Daniel told him.

"He doesn't really have a reason to bring her here but he says he does. We have to listen to him, of course. He won't like it when we tell him that she isn't there. He'll have to deal with it though," Tom responded.

They went to find Fitz in the Oval and explain why they failed his request.

"I'll be right up to see her. Make sure she doesn't leave."

"Actually, Mr. President. Ms. Pope didn't come with us. She's still at her office," Tom told him.

"Why? I told you to bring her here."

"Sir, have you met the man that works for her? He's very threatening."

"I have Secret Service working for me along with any of the Military. The two of you can't take Huck down? That's pathetic. I know what he's capable of, it's not that scary. What are her terms of coming here?"

"She didn't have any. All Ms. Pope said was that she was going to finish your project and she had nothing more to say to you. That was her only message."

Fitz picked up the bottle of Scotch and threw it against the wall. "She's so damn difficult. Let's go."

The two agents walked out behind him to the limo knowing there was no point in even attempting to stop him.

When they got to the office, Olivia had locked the door and had Huck watching it. No one was allowed in without an appointment.

"Her orders," Huck told Fitz. "You can't come in."

"Just tell her that I'm here. I need to speak to her, it's urgent," Fitz said.

"It won't matter, you aren't allowed in. If you can get a hold of her and make an appointment then I can let you in if she says so. Until then, no entry."

"I'm the fucking President of the United States. I don't need an appointment to see anyone. Either you let me in or I'll have my men break down the door and force it in."

"Let the jackass in, Huck. I don't need any broken doors here. People will start asking questions," Olivia told him. Huck stepped aside and let the three men in. "I'm sure that your security team, that's supposed to be protecting only you and your family, has informed you of our discussion from earlier. Therefore, I'm not sure why you are here. I'm done talking with you."

"Yeah, well, I'm not done talking with you. Whatever shit you pulled last night is something we need to talk about."

"I think going to hell is something that you can do better."


	11. Broken

"Just go to hell, Fitzgerald. I'm done with the games you're trying to play and the drama you bring. I have all the protection I need from Huck. Your team has better things to do, like protecting you. You can't just send them to come get me and expect me to follow because you blew a whistle. My life doesn't always revolve around you. Why don't you understand that?" Olivia yelled.

"Because what you do concerns me. You have a very high profile client who is an enemy of the United States and yet you still insist on helping him, knowing how dangerous he his. You aren't thinking clearly and you're putting your life in danger. You need protection," Fitz calmly told her.

"The Secret Service is designed to protect you and your family. Nowhere in it does it say they are to protect me. You would have had to give a special order for them to do that."

As Fitz listened to her, he realized that she knew that she was being followed. "How did you find out? I told them to be discreet."

"You really think that I'm that stupid? That I wouldn't recognize the signs of being followed? And even if I didn't, Huck would have. And he did, before I did. Only because he was following me in which case, you were also having him followed, so you spooked the spook and he took care of business."

"What do you mean he took care of business? Agent Keller was assigned to protect and follow you. Oddly, he hasn't be heard from since last night at seven," Fitz paused. "Huck took care of business. He fixed what needed to be fixed because that's what he does," Fitz turned to Huck. "What did you do with Agent Keller's body?"

Before Huck answered, Olivia told him. "Agent Keller isn't dead, dumbass. Just unrecognizable in the hospital. You had a plain clothed agent following me. Assuming that he was stalking me, Huck intercepted. I swear, you don't think very well. I've been stalked before and Huck made sure I wasn't being stalked again. If you would have coordinated your stupid plan with Huck or me, your SSA would be perfectly fine. He's not dead, just messed up."

"What did you do to him?"

"Broken jaw, nose, cheekbone, black eyes, cuts, broken ribs, dislocated shoulder, missing teeth, and broken fingers. He'll be fine in a few days. James Madison hospital is taking very good care of him," Huck answered.

"That's why you couldn't come in last night. I was taking care of Huck to make sure your agent stayed alive," Olivia said. She turned to Huck and told him that she'd be fine for him to leave. He closed the door behind himself so Fitz and Olivia could continue talking. "When Huck feels that I'm in danger, there is no length that he wouldn't go to to make sure that I am safe. And when that happens, he isn't in his right mind. You couldn't come in last night because Huck just found out that it was you that ordered Agent Keller to follow me and he was pissed. Had you come in last night, I might not have been able to stop him, neither would your agents and you'd end up looking like Agent Keller is today," she paused to breathe. "The very thought that you would think that I would be with another man, less than two days after we got back from Vermont is enlightening. I can see now that you don't trust me. Having me followed wasn't something I agreed to. And I still won't agree to it. Secret service is meant to protect you and your family. You and your family, if I really do need to clarify that for you is: you, Mellie, Jerry, Karen, and Teddy. Take note that it is not me. We are not family. No matter how much we want it, we just aren't. You can't have me followed."

Fitz sat across from her seeing how serious she was. The thought that Olivia would cheat on him was making him sick. Deep down, he knew that she wasn't with someone else in that way but when she didn't let him in, he thought the worst.

"We may not be family, but you're my lifeline. If anything were to happen to you I would die. I know that Huck is dangerous at times but I also know he would never hurt you. He could probably hurt me if I did something to hurt you. And if I did, I'd gladly let him hurt me in any way he wanted to. I know you didn't sign up for a detail, but I assigned one to you anyway. You were helping dangerous people. El General is a very dangerous man. And you were…"

"Helping his wife. He thought he lost his children and wife. It turns out that she had just run away because she didn't love him anymore. And you know that case ended over two years ago. So don't even try to hold that against me."

"But it's not only him. You take on any case that walks through your door regardless of what it is. You can't fix everything, Livie."

"So what? You want me to ask your permission to take a case? Like I'm a child?"

"As nice as that would be, no. You take on whatever you want. I just want to make sure you have protection, more than Huck, when you do a dangerous fix. Won't you please let me protect you?"

"I've been protecting myself for 14 years, I don't need a babysitter to help me do it. I don't want your protection and I don't actually need Huck's. I'm not going to back down on this and I'll know if you do send someone to follow me again. And if you do, we are so much more than over."

Fitz smirked at her words. "Just to be clear, we aren't over now?"

"I'd say yes we are if it would make you leave sooner. You can't control my life. I have a good handle on my life now and don't need your help."

"Alright, I get it. No details, unless notified through you and Huck."

"No, no details, period. If you assign an agent to me or even think about it, I will make sure that Huck cuts both the agent and your balls off, understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Finally, here are these," she handed Fitz a file of papers. "Sign those ones and I'll take care of the rest. You need to head back to the White House before someone finds out where you really are. Especially Cyrus."

Fitz read through the documents and signed them. "I know you're waiting for an apology but I won't apologize for trying to protect you. I love you and that is part of the job description of loving you. Like it or not, you're stuck with me."

"Then it's a good thing I like you."


	12. Papers

Fitz went back to the White House before Cyrus noticed he was gone. He went back to the Oval and got to work on a new bill. He reminded himself that Olivia was a big girl and could take care of herself in any situation. She walked into a bomber in the Pentagon, she could handle anything.

While Fitz was busy in the Oval and Cyrus was in meetings for the next few hours, Olivia found it to be the perfect opportunity to go to Mellie and inform her of the divorce. She went through the tunnels at the White House and into Blaire House. She looked around and found Mellie in the study.

"Hello, Mellie. We need to talk," Olivia said as she sat down.

"If this is about you taking my husband I think we should," Mellie replied.

"I have some papers for you to sign and I'll be done here." Olivia handed the papers to Mellie to look over.

"These are divorce papers, what do I want with these?"

"You want to sign them so you don't become a disgrace to yourself and the rest of the country. And you'll want to sign them before I leave here or I can go straight to the press in the White House. It's very simple to get in. Your prenup has been a bit altered and the settlement is more than you deserve."

"And just what do you intend on telling the press?"

"Turn to page seven," Olivia told her. When Mellie did she read through the agreement.

"You wouldn't do that; it wouldn't just be an embarrassment to me but to Fitz too."

"I've already cleared it with him, if you pay attention you'll see that Fitz already signed off on these."

Mellie stood up and looked out the window, "do you remember when we used to be friends, at least civil with each other?"

"Yes, before all of the secrets and the disasters you created."

"If we are going to start the blame, you have more than enough. You started sleeping with my husband while we were on the campaign."

"And you were raped by his father and slept with his best friend, several times, but only getting pregnant twice. Unless the 'miscarriage' you had on the campaign was also Andrew's child. Wouldn't surprise me, you apparently open your legs for everyone but your husband. You cut him off and he needed to get it from somewhere. You have no one to blame but yourself, Mellie. Sign these and you can go be free and clear with Andrew and the children. Fitz still wants to visit them and have them for two weeks during summer vacations and to see them during their Christmas break. All of which is in the agreement. Make this easy on yourself, Mellie. I would hate to have to go over to the press and reveal everything."

"You can be a real bitch sometimes."

"Yes, but it gets me what I need. Sign the damn papers and we can get this process going. I might be working for the President but I still have many things to do." Olivia handed Mellie a pen as she sat down. Mellie read every detail of the agreement before signing.

"I want a negotiation. Is he willing to compromise?"

"The only person you will be compromising with is me. I've been in charge of seeing that both of you get equal treatment for this. What do you want?"

Mellie told her what she wanted and let Olivia work through agreeing to it. When Olivia agreed to them and had the new agreement drawn up, Mellie signed them.

"There, I'll be gone when it's final with the courts."

"Good, thank you for making my life a bit easier," Olivia said as she left through the tunnels.

Even though Mellie wasn't keen on divorce, she was happy that she could finally be with Andrew in public. They wouldn't have to hide anymore. She would be happy with her life now, and if she was happy, Fitz could be too. Mellie wanted to be First Lady but she wouldn't put it over her happiness with Andrew.

Olivia went to the Oval and waited for Lauren to get off the phone. "Is he in there?"

"He's in a meeting. He should be back in ten minutes. If you want to go in and wait, I'll make sure that no one else goes in," Lauren said.

"Thank you, Lauren," Olivia went into the Oval and closed the door. She went over to the windows sitting between them so no one could see her and the cameras weren't able to get a view of her. Liv read over the papers once more making sure that Mellie signed everything. It wasn't for another half hour that Fitz finally came in. Cyrus had tried to follow Fitz into the Oval but Lauren stopped him.

She whispered in Fitz's ear that he needed to be alone in the Oval for a few minutes. He told Cyrus to go back to his office and work on getting the support needed for a new bill while he took care of a few things. After he was sure that Cyrus was gone, he stepped into the Oval and closed the door, locking both of the doors behind him.

"What's wrong?" He was worried something was going wrong if Olivia made a special trip in. He had just seen her a couple hours before.

"I was just with Mellie, some things had to be changed on the divorce papers you signed. I agreed to them on your behalf. I think it's fair for both you and her. You got what you wanted and so did she. I just need you to sign the new papers. Then I can take them to Stephen and he'll file them with the courts in California."

Olivia handed him the papers and let him read them. "What's different? These look the same as I signed earlier."

"Mellie wanted the money you offered and half of it more. So she gets 10 million. She also wanted to ensure that you got to visit the children the day after Christmas and keep them until New Years. She wanted to keep them for Christmas. I agreed to it. You also will support her in her run for Senator of California, that's all you have to do for that. You keep the kids for the first two weeks in July. Also, she wants you to support her and Andrew. Not financially, she wants you to wish them well when you two announce that you are divorcing. In return she doesn't say a thing about the affair, she leaves my name out of it and you won't be asked to resign. Or worse, impeached. In turn for that, you don't say anything about the rape or anything about her and Andrew. She also agreed to announce that the children are not yours if you agree to it. If you don't agree that's fine, nothing will be said about it. I just don't want you looking like a bad father for not spending time with 'your' children. That part is up to you. I can also go back and change whatever you want."

Fitz walked over to her and kissed her. "I'll sign it."


	13. Speech

Olivia was sitting in her office working with a client when Tom and Daniel showed up. It had been a while since she had seen them. Fitz called her at least three times a day to check in. Their longest talks were always right before bed. They'd be several blocks away from each other but it would feel like they were together.

She finished with her client and followed him out towards the door. When he left she went back to the agents.

"Good afternoon gentlemen, what's going on?" Olivia asked curiously.

Both men smiled at her. "The President requests that you come with us. He says he needs you in an urgent matter. Would you come with us?" Daniel asked.

"Now if he would have asked like that all along, your jobs would be so much easier," Olivia led them out of the office and down to the car.

Tom drove back to the White House and led the three of them to the Oval Office. Lauren said he would only be a minute that he was in with someone. Olivia sat down and waited for Fitz. He came out and motioned for her to come in. When she walked in, he closed the door behind her, coming up to face her and giving her the most aggressive kiss he had in him.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi, want to tell me what is so urgent?"

"That." He laughed and went to his desk. "Also, these papers.

Olivia took the papers and read them. "Your divorce is final," she read slowly. "Your… divorce…is… final." It actually hit her. "Holy shit! Your divorce is final!"

"I love how observant you are," Fitz joked. "It's final. I'm not married anymore!"

"That is very urgent. That could have required you showing up at the office."

"I would have but I need your help. Your speech writing assistance is required. Only you and Tom and Daniel know about this. Mellie hasn't said anything to anyone. Cyrus hasn't been told either. I want him to find out at the press conference. It starts in an hour."

"You want me to write you a speech on your divorce in an hour?" Fitz nodded. "You're asking for a miracle."

He pulled her onto his lap at his desk and kissed her. "Yes, but you are Olivia Pope and can do anything. Even write me a speech that I know you already have written in an hour."

She had to smile at how well he knew her. "How did you know I already wrote it?"

"You left it on the table at your apartment. I had to take a look at it. I did like it. Not too much blame on either side. Mutual decision. Better for the kids. I think it will work. It says everything that needs to be said without giving away too much information. So whip that speech out and let's do a quick fix."

Liv went to her purse and pulled out the speech she wrote. "What does Cyrus think this conference is about?"

"He hasn't actually been told that there is a press conference. He's been in meetings all morning. But he's going to be done by the time we head in there."

"You and Mellie as the 'we'."

"We as in you and me and Mellie. I want you to be in the room. Andrew is going to be in there too. The kids will be standing with us but I want you to be in there. I need your support."

"Fine."

"Wow, I wish you were this agreeable all the time."

Fitz and Olivia made the last few touch ups on the speech before she left to go to the press room. She stood in the back corner where not many people would be able to see her but was easily capable for Fitz to see her. As the press filed in she caught Cyrus's eye. He didn't know why she was there since they hadn't talked since their lunch the week before. He went back to her and pulled her arm up to where she would normally stand with him.

"What's going on?" Cyrus wanted to know.

"Not sure, but we'll find out soon."

Before Cyrus could ask another question, Fitz was announced and everyone stood. Mellie carried Teddy in with Jerry and Karen following behind her. They all took their spot and waited.

Fitz looked around the room trying to spot Liv and placed her. They took a breath together and he started.

"Good afternoon, today I would like to share some news that may come as a shock to you. Please believe that this was with extreme thought and caution on all parties involved. For a while now, Mellie and I have not been having the best part of marriage. We have both fallen for other people and cannot hide it anymore. Because of this, we have decided to get a divorce. This decision was not made lightly. As of this morning, our divorce is final. Both of us are happier with our other person. It's proven that the person that I am with does make me a better person. As is the same with Mellie. We will always be friends and you will all see me campaigning for her slot as Senator of California comes next year. Both of us have discussed this with our children and have agreed that it is better for all. We also would like to share Teddy, Karen, and Fitzgerald the Fourth are not my children. I will always maintain my role as a parent to all three of them. However, they need to be with their mother now and heal as the family that they are. As Mellie and the children will be leaving later today, we all ask that you give time for privacy and ask questions at a later date. All the details that need to be given are in the packets that were passed out to you before this press conference. Thank you for your time."

Olivia stood next to Cyrus while all reporters stood up and yelled for Fitz to answer more questions. She turned and saw that Cyrus looked as though he was having a heart attack. She pulled him into his office and sat him down.

"Breathe Cy, it's being taken care of. Do not have a heart attack on me," Olivia said as she got him a glass of water.

"You knew about this?"


	14. Yell

"You knew about this?" Cyrus yelled at Olivia. "You knew and never said anything to me? What the hell! You should have said something to me. This is ridiculous. He's going to kill his ratings. All we've done is going to be for nothing. They're going to have him impeached. This is bad, this is really bad."

Olivia sat down and crossed her legs watching Cyrus yell as he paced behind his desk. "I've got it taken care of. His ratings are higher than they were before. He passed the immigration bill, the education bill, and he's called over 90 percent of the troops home. People love him. He's doing great. He didn't need any help from me on that. He asked for my help on getting a divorce. I didn't help with anything other than that."

"But if he wanted a divorce why didn't he say anything to me? I could have helped him. I could have found him the best attorney for a divorce."

"I wanted the best, and when you want the best you go to Olivia Pope," Fitz said when he opened the door. "She's the best at everything," he leaned over to her ear, "and I do mean everything." Cyrus rolled his eyes and continued pacing as Olivia laughed. "And if I had said anything to you about a divorce, you would have tried to talk me out of it. I didn't want you to talk me out of it, I wanted you to help me with it but you wouldn't have. You would have gone and told Mellie and she would have ruined everything. Now, it doesn't matter. I'm divorced and there is nothing you can do about it. I can finally move on with my life and get the endgame that I wanted." While he talked, Cyrus put his coat on and gathered his things. "Where are you going?"

"Home, to drink. The two of you stress me out more than any job. I could be running Harvard right now but instead I'm here babysitting the two of you. I won't be here tomorrow either. Enjoy your day," Cyrus said as he slammed the door closed.

Olivia and Fitz sat in his office in silence for several minutes. "He took that better than I thought he would," Fitz finally said.

"I'm pretty sure he almost had a heart attack in the press room. But other than that he seemed fine. To be clear, what is the endgame you were looking for?"

"I can't believe you would have to ask that."

"I have an idea, but I'd like to be sure."

"Vermont. It's always been my endgame since I met you. Now we can have it. We can do so many things together now."

"That's great Fitz. And I'm glad you're free of her. It's what you wanted but we didn't discuss what you wanted after the divorce. I want to be clear on everything."

Fitz moved to one knee in front of her in one simple move. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. "I want you to have this. This is the ring that I picked out special for you while we were on the campaign. I've held on to it every day since then, now you can wear it. It's an engagement ring that I can finally give you. You can wear it out in public and tell whoever you want to tell now. I want you to do whatever you want to do. Since we've met, it seems that we've only done what I wanted to do. I've had you dragged out of your home to me at different times of the night. I've invaded your privacy and all the other terrible things I've done and I hope you can forgive me for all of that because I am truly sorry. And I'll apologize a million times a day if I have to if that's what you want. I just want you. I want you to be happy and that you can be whatever you want. Olivia Carolyn Pope, I love you more than anything in this world. Marry me?"

She opened the box and saw the most amazing six karat princess cut diamond in the world. Very slowly, Olivia nodded yes to him finally finding her voice she yelled yes. Fitz couldn't contain himself when she said yes. He put the ring on her finger and picked her up, showing her exactly how much he loved her for an hour on Cyrus's desk.


	15. Flowers

"What do you think of the Fourth of July?" Fitz asked her. It had been a few weeks since their engagement. Olivia told Eli and her team that they were getting married while Fitz told the children. Everyone was excited for the wedding, including Cyrus. He got over the shock of the divorce a week later and told the two that he was happy for them.

"For a wedding? I share you with the country already, why do they need our anniversary too?" Olivia complained.

Fitz laughed, "alright, when do you want to get married?"

"Somewhere quiet, we could go this weekend. We could have a private ceremony here at the White House. Call up one of the Supreme Court Justices and ask them to do it. I'm sure they'd be happy to do it."

"Livie, reality has to come soon. We are supposed to be dating, not engaged yet. As nice as it would be to get married this weekend, we can't. People would start to talk, you aren't even moved in here yet. Let's try this dating thing that we never got the chance to do."

The two lay in bed together talking all of the details out. "You want me to move in here? Like now?"

"Well, I can't really move into your place. But I would like you to move in here. There is one other thing that we have to discuss and I know you're against it."

"Only because we are engaged, I will agree to the detail, but not until everyone knows that we are engaged. There's no danger if people don't even know we are dating. Give me a few more weeks of enjoying the peacefulness of my quiet apartment and then we will announce that we are engaged and you can assign a detail to me. But not a moment before we announce. Agreed?"

"As long as you take the detail when we are engaged, which is required by law, and then we are agreed."

Fitz and Olivia agreed on several things before they went to sleep. She would stay at her apartment during the weekdays and spend the weekends in the White House. They would announce their engagement two weeks later and she would still stay at her apartment but move most of her things into the Residence. They would also be getting married on September 27. It wasn't going to be very big but the wedding would be big enough to suit the American people since Fitz was to be the first President to marry while President in many years.

Olivia had snuck out of the White House before Fitz woke up mostly undetected. She headed off to work after a quick stop at home to change and shower. She continued to help her client who was being accused of having an affair with a minor out of all the trouble he was causing. She drank her coffee and waited for her team to come in.

"Don't you ever sleep," a soft, tired voice said out of nowhere, scaring her.

"Shit, Huck. Speak if you're going to spend the night here. And yes I do. I just have a few hundred things on my mind."

"Stop stressing about a wedding. You know that Abby will help you. Quinn too. It's not a big deal, it's just a wedding that the entire world will be watching. Almost like Prince William and Kate's wedding."

"Thank you so much, Huck, for all your help of reminding me how much I will be in the public eye. You will be too. You're going to be my man of honor. You've been by my side the longest and you will be for that too. I'm sort of asking but it's not really a question. No one else is as good a friend as you are. Plus, Fitz is scared to death of you. So will you be my man of honor?"

Huck sat up on the couch and rubbed his eyes. "Since I'm not being given a choice, I suppose I will. Do I have to wear a tux?"

"Unless you want to wear a dress. But it'll only be for the ceremony. You can change after and wear jeans to the reception. I will really need you for this."

"Fine, but you have to tell Abby before she starts making plans for being the maid of honor."

"Deal."

"You should tell her today, you'll have to call her though. She's got the flu and isn't leaving the bathroom floor."

"I'll take her some soup at lunch and she'll feel better."

At lunch she took Abby her favorite soup from a café around the corner from the office and spent a couple hours making sure she was alright. Then again when she left work.

When her day was finally over she went home looking forward to her bottle of wine she left in the fridge to chill during the day. As she opened the door she saw that someone had been in her apartment. She looked around the room and saw what must have been at least twenty four dozen red roses scattered in vases throughout her home. There were vases on the table, side tables next to the couch, on the table just inside the door. She went to the kitchen and saw even more roses on the counter tops with a bottle of wine on ice. Stuck to it was a note.

_'Hope you had a wonderful day, Sweet Baby. I couldn't help but think of you all through it. Talk to you soon. Love, Fitz.'_

She opened the bottle of wine left for her and poured it into her long stem wine glass. The beautiful roses were everywhere including the hallway and her bedroom. Liv changed into her comfortable pajamas and sat on the couch while she read over Fitz's polls for the week. She went to the kitchen and heated some of the lasagna that she had the night before.

When the clock on her bedside table struck ten, her phone rang. Knowing who it was, since he called every night at ten, she answered it.

"You didn't have to sneak into my apartment to give me flowers and wine. I would have been okay with you doing that in person," Liv told him.

"You didn't have to sneak out of White House this morning. By the way, I'm not okay with you doing that."

"Hi," Olivia said quietly.

"Hi, how was your day?"

"About as good as yours. And since I've read through the polls for you earlier, I can assume your day was filled with Cyrus."

"He didn't even give me half a minute to call you today. I'm thinking of demoting him. Maybe to janitor of the White House? Comments on that?" Olivia laughed at him seeing Cyrus cleaning toilets in a jump suit would be a sight to see.

"He's just trying to keep your ratings up. Cyrus wants what is best for you. He doesn't mean any harm by it."

"In the meantime, he's keeping me away from my fiancé. What was so bad with your day? Other than I did call you."

"It's okay that you didn't call. You're very busy. I just have a client that can't keep his hands to himself and I have to take care of it."

"Oh yes, Senator Grayling. He was here today, flirting with Lauren and the interns. Anything I can do to help?"

"I thought we agreed that we wouldn't interfere with each other's work unless it was about the campaign? This has nothing to do with the campaign."

"I know that, but I can at least be polite and offer my help. I already knew you'd say no. As long as Grayling is keeping his hands to himself around you, I won't get involved. What's your day look like tomorrow?"

"Keeping someone's hands to himself and paying off the people he did it to. Other than that, a slow day I think."

"Good, Tom and Daniel are going to pick you up from your office at five so you can spend the night here."

"I can drive myself. I am very capable of that."

"And you are capable of leaving before I wake up to avoid the press and me. Which I am sort of offended by."

Olivia stared at the ring on her finger while he talked. "We are engaged, I have no reason for me to avoid you. The press there is, but not you."

"See, we are engaged and you are dodging the press. And I get that, you don't want people to know for another couple weeks and that's fine but you could at least wake me up and tell me you're leaving."

"Fine," she sighed. "When I come over and have to leave in the morning, I will kiss you goodbye even though that will wake you up and you need plenty of sleep to run the country."

"Good, now that we are agreed, you need your sleep too. You sound tired, Livie. I'll talk to you in the morning. Night, sweet baby. I love you."

"Night Fitz, love you too."


	16. Flu

Throughout the night, Olivia spent time huddled over the toilet, throwing up anything she had ate in the last two days. She was not feeling up for anything but maybe crawling on the floor to sleep for the next year. Slowly, she managed to get back to her bed and turn off her alarm and text Huck to tell him she was sick. She now had a headache from the bright light in her face first thing in the morning and went back to the bathroom to vomit again. Liv sat with her back against the bathtub for several minutes before she lowered herself and put her head on the soft rug and fell asleep.

Olivia heard her phone ring but didn't have the energy to get up to answer it. It rang several more times and she knew it was Fitz since she could hear his ringtone. Soon she fell back to sleep on the bathroom floor after she threw up twice more.

Several hours had gone by until she woke up. Liv made her way back to her bed and looked at her phone. It was already one in the afternoon but she didn't feel much like caring about that. She slid her thumb across the screen to see that she had eight missed calls from Fitz and three from Cyrus. She read through her text messages from Fitz all saying he hoped she was having a more productive day and a better one. His last message said he couldn't wait to see her in a few hours.

Liv called Harrison to make sure things were going as planned before she called Cyrus.

"Olivia, what's going on? Fitz is going nuts about you. More than usual."

"Hey Cyrus, how are you? I'm good too except I've been vomiting for the past, oh I don't know, twelve hours or so. Good to hear your voice but I'm going to hang up now since you're yelling at me and I have a throbbing headache, have a nice day."

"Wait, wait, wait. Are you okay?"

"Like I just said, I'm sick. Abby gave me the flu. I'll be fine in a couple days. How are things going there?"

"He's not paying attention to anything that's going on. He keeps looking at his phone to see if you've messaged him some way. And when you don't, he stops the meeting and calls you. But you don't answer and he gets more distracted. Other than that, things are going okay. Grayling got slapped today too. One of the interns got it on tape and posted it online so beware, there's more issues for you to handle."

Olivia rubbed her head as he talked about Grayling. "Who slapped him?"

"Lauren, I'm glad I was there in person to see it. He's lucky she won't have him arrested for sexual assault. Sorry you have to deal with him though. It can't be fun."

"What part of my job is ever fun?"

"Hey, the campaign was fun. You had more fun than I did though. But it was fun."

"That's not my job, it was a favor. And it wasn't fun, it was work."

"But it wasn't a job work."

"Quit trying to analyze everything I say. You'll be the next to get a headache. I'll talk to you later Cyrus. And you should probably cancel our dinner plans tomorrow night. I don't think you want the flu."

"Okay, kiddo. Do us both a favor though and call him please? He's stressing out."

"I'll let him know that I'm okay. He'll be fine in a bit. Bye Cyrus."

She hung up the phone and sent Fitz a text message telling him she wouldn't be coming over tonight, then another wave of nausea came to her. Within a minute her phone rang and she had to answer Fitz's call.

"What do you mean you aren't coming over tonight? You have to, we made the arrangement in plenty of time. Fuck, you're running aren't you? You've decided you can't handle it and are going to leave and not tell me or anyone else where you're going. Liv, don't run we can get through it. We'll work on this together. Whatever you need. I really need you to stay and come over tonight please? Just come over and we can talk about this." She pulled the phone away from her ear and set it on the counter as she pulled her hair back and puked again. "Livie? Are you okay?"

After a few minutes of continuing to vomit she sat down and grabbed her phone. "Sorry, what? I missed the last part."

"Are you okay?" Fitz said very concerned.

"Cyrus didn't tell you I was sick?"

"Cyrus didn't tell me he talked to you today. What's wrong?"

"Abby gave me the flu. She's had it the last couple days and I got it when I went to check on her yesterday afternoon. So I'm not coming over tonight. I don't want you to get sick."

"Gabby gave…"

"ABBY!"

"Right, sorry. Abby gave you the flu. I'll come to you then. I'll let Tom and Daniel know the change of plan and be there in half an hour."

"Are you deaf? I said I don't want you getting sick. POTUS cannot be sick with the flu. I'll be fine. I'm taking care of myself; I don't need you to take care of me. You can call all you want but please don't come over."

"Olivia, you are my fiancé now. I will always take care of you. Don't you know the traditional vows? In sickness and in health? I mean those."

"Yes, but we aren't married yet. And no one knows that we are engaged or that we have been dating. You can't spring this on them. I've taken care of myself many times when I'm sick. It's not a big deal."

"This would be a great thing though, Livie. I come over and reporters catch me going into your apartment building wondering who I am seeing and then later we can tell them we are engaged. It all works out. Add in the part that I came to help you when you were sick, women love that. Work with me Olivia Pope, this is a good thing."

"Yeah it's great until you get sick with the flu. I'm not coming over tonight and you can't come here. Please Fitz, I'm doing this for you. Tomorrow I'll see how I'm feeling and maybe you can come over but probably not since it's a stomach bug that usually lasts twenty four hours and I've only had it for sevenish."

"Fine," he sighed. "Can I have anything sent to you though?"

"A barrel of wine and aspirin would really help."

"Aspirin yes, wine no. Why don't you have any there?"

"It's gone. I only had a few left and I took those this morning."

"Okay, Livie. Tom will be there in half an hour with aspirin."

"Thank you, I'll call in the morning. Night Fitz."

"Goodnight baby."


	17. Cry

A week had gone by and Olivia was still sick. After being in bed for many days, she had finally had enough and went to the doctor.

"Ms. Pope, you don't have the flu or anything like that. You're pregnant," the doctor told her.

"How long?"

"About five weeks. Does that time frame seem relevant?"

Olivia nodded and thanked him before she left. She thought back five weeks. It was the day Fitz announced he was divorced. Where she and Fitz had an hour of passionate sex on Cyrus's desk in his office. She remembered everything about it. His hands roaming her whole body while hers worked his shirt off him. The long kiss they had before and during and after. It felt like it could have been just one very, very, very long kiss. She started to cry on her way back to her apartment. The closer she came to her apartment though, the harder she cried. Fitz was at the White House and no one knew about their engagement yet. And they weren't supposed to tell anyone for another week. Her being pregnant changed things now. They would have to tell America and the world that they were not only engaged but also pregnant. This was not part of the plan. The endgame wasn't supposed to look like this. Olivia started to cry hard, turning into balling. She went back to her apartment and cried herself to sleep.

Being pregnant with Fitz's baby was supposed to be a good thing, a happy thing. But it wasn't the right time. They were supposed to be married and then pregnant. She already knew she would love the baby but why did it have to come at this time?

In the morning, Olivia got up and ready for work without any problems. She stopped by the coffee shop to get her daily dose of caffeine thinking twice about it, after her coffee was all gone. When she got to her office, she noticed that everyone was there eating breakfast. Consisting of bacon, cinnamon rolls, and eggs, it turned her stomach. She ran to the bathroom and got sick at only the scent of it.

The team saw her come in and saw her disappear. They waited for her to come back and continued their breakfast.

Olivia came into the conference room and greeted them with a simple hello.

"Abby made breakfast, Liv. Want some?" Quinn offered.

Not able to get to the bathroom in time she hurled in the trashcan next to her desk. She closed the office door and started to cry again.

"What was that about?" Quinn questioned.

"Is she crying? Holy shit, Olivia is crying," Abby added.

"Olivia doesn't cry. She doesn't believe in crying. Gladiators don't cry," Huck stated.

"Huck, she's crying. Seriously crying. What's she crying for? There had better be a damn good reason to cry if she is actually crying," Harrison said.

They stood outside her door watching her closely in shifts for the next couple hours making sure she was alright. Olivia never stopped crying and no one knew what to do. Huck was going to go in but Harrison stopped him.

"Gladiators don't cry, she can't know that we've seen her cry," he told Huck.

When Liv had finally had enough of the balling, she grabbed her purse and headed out of the office.

"I'll be back in a bit. Just keep doing what you're doing," she told them still visibly crying.

Olivia drove over to the White House, ignoring the guard Morris's question if she was okay. She went to the Oval looking for Fitz but only found Lauren.

"Ms. Pope, are you alright?" Lauren asked. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Olivia always had access to Fitz but she hadn't been there during business hours in a while without an appointment.

"I'm alright, Lauren. Is he in there?" she sobbed.

"He's in a meeting; I can get him if you want."

"That's okay; I'll wait," Olivia cried harder.

Lauren excused herself and ran down the hall to the Situation room. Normally she wouldn't be allowed in but this was a sort of emergency. She knocked on the door and was greeted by Tom when he opened it. She said a couple words to him and stepped in to Fitz.

"Sir, Ms. Pope is here to see you," she whispered in his ear.

"Thank you, ask her to wait in the Oval for me; we'll be done here soon," Fitz told her.

"You should come now."

"Why? I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Mr. President, Ms. Pope is very upset and will not stop crying. You should come now."

Hearing that she was upset and, worse, crying, Fitz dismissed his meeting and left with Lauren with Cyrus hot on his heels. "How long has she been here?"

"She just arrived crying, but judging by her face and her voice, she's been this way for hours."

"What's going on?" Cyrus asked, trying to keep up with Fitz.

"Olivia's crying."

"What the hell did you do to her? She doesn't cry. Gladiators don't cry!"

"I haven't talked to her since yesterday morning, Cyrus. How could I have done something?"

"You're pretty talented," Lauren added.

Fitz shot her a 'shut up' glance. "Not helping."

When they got back to the Oval, Olivia was sitting on the floor beside the door near Lauren's desk, still crying. She looked up and saw all three of them, with the agents behind them staring at her.

"Lauren, I said I'd wait. You didn't need to interrupt his meeting," she choked out.

"No, Lauren was right to come get me. What's wrong?" Fitz asked. She didn't say anything but continued and started to cry harder. Easily, Fitz picked her up and took her into the Oval setting her on his lap on the couch. Cyrus closed the door behind them and stood outside with Lauren and the agents waiting. "What has you so upset? Do I need to send Tom and Daniel after someone? I can do that if you want. Just say the word and they'll take care of it. Tell me, please?"

"Fitz, I'm sorry."


	18. Pregnant

"Fitz, I'm sorry," Olivia sobbed, "I'm so so sorry, it wasn't supposed to be like this. We didn't plan it this way. We planned everything so perfectly, this wasn't part of it."

He pulled Olivia into his chest and rubbed her back. While he tried to soothe her crying, she ran her fingers through his hair and her other hand around his neck pulling at his collar.

"Livie, tell me what's wrong. What didn't we plan for?"

She slowly nodded her head and attempted to relax into him. "It's a good thing, I think, we just weren't ready right now. And even if you are I'm not. I can't do this now. We can figure this out I guess. Fitz, I'm…" she started to cry harder.

"Olivia Carolyn Pope, stop crying now. What is the matter? We can't fix any problem if you don't tell me what the problem is. And since when do you cry? How many times have you told me that gladiators don't cry? What's going on?"

"I'm pregnant," she whispered into his neck.

"What?"

"I'm pregnant," she said a bit louder.

He pulled her up so he could see her face, "I can't hear you when you are mumbling, Livie."

"I am PREGNANT," she yelled. Liv looked at Fitz's eyes, trying to gauge his reaction. "I knew you couldn't handle this. It's the wrong time. We weren't supposed to have a baby for at least another year. This ruins everything. We shouldn't be having a baby right now."

Fitz turned her towards him. "Listen to me, and listen very close. Whether you are pregnant now or a year from now, it doesn't change how much I love both you and the baby. It might not have been planned but we can't plan for everything. We will be fine. This doesn't ruin anything, it just speeds things up. How far along are you?"

"About a month."

As Fitz started to think a month back, a clear grin came on his face and he started to laugh. "Cyrus's desk. You got pregnant on Cy's desk."

"Laughing wasn't what I thought you would have in mind. But I suppose it is funny."

"Yes it is. We're going to be fine, Livie. I promise. We can move the announcement of our engagement to tomorrow. You can move in this weekend. We'll be fine."

"Okay."

Fitz sat her down next to him and stood up. He went to the door and had Cyrus come in.

"We have an announcement to give tomorrow, first thing. Two actually but we have a surprise for you first," Fitz told him.

"Fitz, no. Not now. We can't tell him. He'll have a heart attack," Liv screeched.

"Liv, he'll be fine. And it will be worth it to see his face; we can tell him now. He'll find out tomorrow anyway. Please?"

"Fine, but don't gloat about it," she said as she crossed her arms and sat back.

Cyrus sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Are you okay?" Olivia said she was fine and he relaxed a bit. He watched Fitz start to laugh again and sit on the couch across from him. "So what's going on? What's so funny?"

"Fitzgerald, it isn't that funny. Maybe a little but not that much."

Fitz calmed himself and looked at Cyrus. "Liv's pregnant."

"That's really not funny," Cyrus said. He looked at Liv and saw that she was nodding. "You're serious? Then what's the funny part?"

Fitz and Olivia locked eyes and laughed. "I got pregnant on your desk," she choked out.

Cyrus yelped and moved away from her. "The two of you are disgusting. I use that desk every day. God only knows what the two of you had done on it. Why can't I leave you two alone for a minute without you going after each other? Is it really that hard to keep your hands off of her Fitz? She's that irresistible?"

"Actually, she is. But that's beside the point. We just got a bit over excited…"

"Obviously."

"Hey, I just announced that I was divorced. We were a bit happy that we finally made the first step towards being together. Be happy for us. We're going to go public with our engagement tomorrow, that's the press conference that I have scheduled."

Cyrus was happy for them. They both had been through enough separately and maybe they could get somewhere happy together. "Alright, I'm happy if you're happy. If you'll excuse me, I need to make a call."

"Who are you calling?" Liv asked.

"The janitors; I need my office cleaned to the max, and a new desk."


	19. Announce

Olivia stood in front of Fitz helping him with his tie in the morning. She straightened it while he pulled her closer to him.

"Are you ready?" he asked her.

"I guess so. We'll have to announce at some point. Might as well be now," she answered.

Fitz bent down and kissed her lips. "It's going to be fine, remember? You wrote the speech. We gave all the details necessary. It's fine. You have never worried like this before. I don't think I like you pregnant. The next eight months are going to be great for me, I can tell," he dripped with sarcasm.

"It's your fault. Now you have to deal with the consequences."

"Not a problem. We should head in now."

He held out his hand for her to take. Hesitantly, she took it and followed him into the press room. He stood behind the podium with her beside him.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen. There's an announcement that I will be giving today and we can hold questions after," he stated. "Nearly two months ago my ex-wife and I told you all that we were divorced and had fallen in love with other people. She and her boyfriend Andrew are very happy spending their time alone in California getting to know each other more. Jerry, Karen, and Teddy are all enjoying their time together with their mother. I was also asked to pass on their appreciation of the privacy that you all have not violated. Now for the news. The woman beside me is someone that you all may recognize. Olivia Pope, D.C.'s most famous fixer and my previous communications direction and campaign fixer, and I have been dating for the last three months. We would like to inform you that we are engaged and are expecting a child. Both of us are excited about this baby. This was not planned but we are still very excited. Any questions?" They all stood up and started shouting to get his attention. "James?"

"How is the former Mrs. Grant taking the news?"

"She's doing very well and has congratulated both of us. We already received her gift this morning. An adorable little outfit with the flag on it. Next question?"

"What about the children? They aren't yours but they were raised as yours, are they excited for a sibling?"

"Teddy is a bit too young to understand but Karen and Jerry are happy for us."

"Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?"

"Personally, it doesn't matter to me, as long as the baby is healthy. Olivia was wished for a boy though."

"How are you feeling, Ms. Pope?"

Fitz stepped aside and let Olivia answer. "I'm hoping the morning sickness will go away soon but so far it hasn't. And the hormones are driving both Fitz and I insane. But we're getting through it together."

"When is the wedding?"

"September," the answered together.

"That's so soon, why?"

"We'd like to be married before the baby comes. I'm due in March and that will give us plenty of time to prepare for the baby here. And give the staff some time to adjust to me."

"When are you moving into the White House?"

"Tomorrow," Fitz answered. Olivia shot him a look and he just smiled. "I think that will do it for questions. Thank you all for coming. Have a nice day." He took her hand and led her out of the room.

"Tomorrow? I thought we agreed to wait for a couple weeks."

"No, you agreed, I said nothing. Silence isn't always an agreement. And in this case, it isn't."

"But Fitz…"

"NO! Do not 'but Fitz' me. You're moving in tomorrow. It's already been arranged. Tom and Daniel are seeing that your things get here. You can't keep trying to stall, Livie. We're getting married in two months, and you're pregnant. Stop trying to take charge of everything. I'm not discussing this anymore. So drop it."

Olivia threw herself onto the couch as they entered the Oval, "fine."

"Thank you, now give me your foot."


	20. Wedding

The music started and Olivia walked down the aisle in the Rose Garden. Everything looked perfect for the day. Luckily, the weather was cooperating after the two days of rain before. Fitz stood at the end of the way watching Olivia closely, pleading with his eyes that she not run. The thought to run never even crossed her mind. Cyrus stood next to Fitz and told him how beautiful she looked. Huck stood on the other side of the aisle next to Abby with his hand behind his back wishing this would all be over soon. He didn't like wearing a tux but agreed to it for the ceremony.

The reverend started the ceremony and had both of them say the traditional vows and pronounced them married in front of thirty people.

When it was done, they all went into the State Dinner room and had a reception. Nothing too fancy but enough to please the reporters invited.

"You thought I was going to run?" Liv asked during their first dance.

"It crossed my mind. How'd you know?"

"I could see it in your eyes. I saw the worry that I would turn around and not come back."

"But you didn't and I am truly thankful for that. I would hate to be the President being left at the altar. Even if it was only a rose bush."

"I don't plan on running. We have a child to look after now. I don't want to be a parent who has to split time with my kid with their father. It's not fair to the child or to either of us. I don't think I could do it without you anyway. What do you think about the wedding?"

"Abby did a nice job with it. People seem to be enjoying themselves and the reporters are having fun snapping as many pictures as possible. Your thoughts?"

"It's a bit over the top for thirty people. Did we really need an ice sculpture? I'm okay with the chocolate fountain. And the orchestra? We didn't need all of this."

"Yes but people offered their services and Abby accepted on our behalf. I'm not fond of the ice sculpture anyway. I don't like the idea of a bald eagle being frozen. The orchestra was a nice touch if we had invited more people."

Fitz and Olivia gave a small speech thanking everyone for coming out.

"So where are we going on this honeymoon?"

"I didn't want anything too big so I thought we could spend the week in Vermont."

"There's no place like home."


	21. Conference

Olivia and Fitz had been married for three months and things were going perfectly for them. He had pleaded with her to stop working at OPA and just stay around the White House for a while since she was six months pregnant. Fitz reasoned that the stress would harm the baby and she'd end up in the hospital early. Since Liv hated hospitals she agreed.

"You really have to go to the summit conference?" Olivia asked.

"Unfortunately, I do. But I'll only be gone for a couple days. I have a very pregnant wife who won't stay home unless I'm there," Fitz said. "Tom is going to make sure that you don't go to work or try to fix any problems for OPA while I'm gone."

"I won't be working. I'm just going to help Cyrus write your speech for the State of the Union next week. We've got it nearly finished but it still needs a few more details. I don't need Tom to watch me for that. I have my own security team, remember? I am the First Lady and have that. They follow me everywhere."

Fitz sat down next to her on the couch in the Residence and massaged her feet. "And they do a great job of protecting you and the baby. Want me to bring you something from Tokyo?"

"Nope, just you. I'd really like you to come back sooner."

"It's a sixteen hour flight, I'll only be off the plane for a few hours then I'm back on it. I'll hardly notice the time change. So you just stay here and relax while I fly across the world."

Olivia walked Fitz out to Marine One and kissed him goodbye. By the time that it lifted off the ground, she was already on the phone with her gladiators helping with a crisis.

Fitz was kept informed about everything she was doing and knew her not working was a very slim possibility of happening. Each time he turned his back she was getting a message from one of them asking for help. Luckily, they didn't ask for anything major, only some advice.

Fitz had just landed in Tokyo and went to the meeting when his phone went off. He excused himself to answer it.

"Karen? What's wrong?" He concerned himself.

"Nothing is really wrong. How's the conference going? I talked to Liv and she said you were gone," she said. Fitz could tell she was hiding something from him.

"It's going fine, but that's not why you called. What's wrong?"

"Nothing that I can't handle, I really just wanted to talk to you for a second. Okay?"

"Alright, if you're sure something isn't wrong. You can always call me. No matter what, I'm still kind of your father."

"I know, Dad. It's been really weird. Almost like I'm in a soap opera and things keep getting worse."

Fitz sat down on the stairs knowing that was the queue. "Tell me what happened."

"I'm going back to school in a couple weeks and Jerry already left for his college classes. Teddy is with Andrew and Mom's getting worse. She won't stop asking for you, even when she's sober. I keep telling her that you're with Olivia now but she doesn't get it. She's being very winey lately when she isn't getting her way. I've decided to go back to school and finish some work I have for a big project that's due next month but she insists that I call you. She just wants to see you."

He ran his hand through his hair and continued their conversation. "You should go back to school. Let your mom worry about herself. Eventually she will see that no one wants to be around her and the drama that she causes. Andrew is very good with Teddy and I'm glad that Jerry isn't there. But you need to be at school and finish that project. Let Mellie worry about Mellie. I know you love your mom but it's what's best for her. When I'm done at the conference tonight, I'll fly over and take you to school myself. Alright?"

"Thanks, Dad. I think I'll have my detail drive me to the airport and meet you there. You don't want to see her now and I get it. Call when you're about to land okay?"

"Will do, sweetie. Try to enjoy some time with her. I'll see you tomorrow."

Fitz hung up and told Daniel to inform the pilot of the change. He continued his conference and flew back to California. He called Karen half an hour before they landed and she met him there.

"Hey kid, any improvement?"

"No, now she wants to know when you're going to come see her. I told her you weren't and she had a fit. Andrew is leaving Teddy with the nanny to come help her but she says it's only you that can help her."

He hugged Karen and they sat down buckling up for take-off. "We aren't together anymore, I'm with Liv and Liv needs me now. More than she did before. Your mom has to understand that eventually."

"I know, do you think I might be able to come to the SOTU speech with you and Liv next week? I really want to see her before she has the baby. Maybe we can play tennis, you and me?"

"Liv would love that, you should call her when we land and tell her that you're spending the week. How's school?"

"It's fine. I've got this project on biology that's due in a month but I want to turn it in sooner. It's almost done now but I thought I'd take a break and visit mom. We see how that turned out. But that's okay. How's Olivia?"

"Pregnant, very pregnant," they laughed. "She won't listen to me when I tell her not to work. Her detail already told me today that she has had twenty calls from OPA since she's been awake. And it's only noon there. We're trying to help her to distress but she isn't having any of it. You know, Liv. The baby is doing great too. Did you get the ultrasound pic she sent you?"

"I did. She's so cute!"

"It's a boy. What do you mean she?"

"No, I can tell. It's a girl."

"Well, we'll find out when the baby arrives. Mother's orders not to find out. And Liv gets what she wants."


	22. Shopping

"Hey Livie, I have a surprise for you," Fitz told her when he came home from the conference. "Where are you?"

Olivia came out from the kitchen with a jar of blueberries and her lips tinted blue. "I'm here, what's the surprise?" She saw the funny look from Fitz. "The baby wants blueberries, get off my back. What's my surprise?"

"OLIVIA!" Karen yelled and run to hug her.

"KAREN! What are you doing here?" She was excited to see her. Karen looked a bit more grown up than she did the last time.

"Dad came and got me when I called him at the conference. I wanted to spend some time here with you before the baby comes. He said you had to say it was okay for me to stay."

"She's your daughter; you don't need my permission to stay. You can come whenever you want. I'm so happy you're here! Now that you're here, we can go shopping."

"I see where I rate," Fitz jumped in. "I get home from a couple days away and I'm overlooked to see the kid. Nice to see you too Liv."

The girls laughed at him. "Did we hurt your feelings?" Liv joked.

"Yes, kiss me and I'll be better."

She gave him a quick kiss and went back to Karen. "You can join our shopping trip if you want Dad," Karen said.

"Yeah, no, I'm good. You two go ahead with the details and I'll go check in with Cyrus. Don't go too overboard please."

Liv and Karen went to a few stores before going for lunch at Gettysburger.

"I've missed having these. They are so good. How are you Liv?" Karen asked between bites.

"I'm good. Keeping busy with everything between OPA and the baby and your Da… Fitz."

"You can call him my Dad. I do. He'll always be my Dad. Jerry says the same thing. Have you thought about names for the baby?"

"Nope, not yet. We've both been so busy that we haven't even had time to agree on the nursery. Our schedules have been complicated but now that you're here it gives both of us a chance to skip a few things and spend time with you. I want to ask something, and I don't mean any offense by it. I was just wondering…"

"Why I'm here? I know. I wanted to spend time with you and Dad before the baby comes." She looked at Liv and knew she wasn't buying it. "Okay, the truth? I wanted to get away from Mom. She's been going crazy for the past few months. I hadn't noticed because I've been away at school but when I came home at Christmas, things were bad. She was fighting with Andrew over something about Dad. She sends me texts daily when I'm at school asking if I've talked to him. I tell her that he's with you now but she doesn't care. She doesn't want to listen to me about it. I finally had enough and decided to go back to school to finish a project so I called Dad. I hope that's okay."

"Karen, you don't need any permission from me to call or come visit your Dad. I love both you and Jerry like my own kids. I would love for you to come visit any time you want. We missed you at Christmas. Your presents are still in the closet at my apartment. Both yours and Jerry's. It was nice of your mom to send a gift for the baby too. I'm not sure what your mom is going through but I hope that someone can help her through it. It's not your job to look after her. She's supposed to be taking care of you. What do you say we go finish shopping and head back to the White House? I'd love to see you kick your dad's butt at tennis today."

The girls finished their shopping trip and Karen made sure to buy at least one boy thing, just in case it wasn't a girl, and headed back home.


	23. Drugs

"We've picked out the nursery set for Vermont and the White House. Everything is getting ready. The nursery here is already set but the house is still being put together. Huck said he would take care of it," Olivia told Karen and Fitz at dinner. By now, Liv was eight and a half months pregnant. Her due date approaching fast and worrying her more every day.

"That's great, Liv. We'll have everything on both of our schedules cleared or at least mine will be very light the whole two weeks surrounding the date. And Karen is off school for spring break. Jerry said he was going to try and make it back but he couldn't promise anything," Fitz said.

"Yup, I've turned everything in and ready to be here to play big sister when she arrives. Between the gladiators and the White House team, I think all the bases are covered," Karen jumped in. "We're all in this together, right?" They both agreed with Karen and went off to bed.

In the morning, Fitz was in a hustle to get everything he could do for the week. He wanted to spend as much time with Liv and Karen before the baby arrived. He sat in the Oval with Cyrus finishing an education bill that he was going to sign and send back to Congress when Lauren came in.

"I'm sorry, Sir. She's calling again. She won't hang up. I've told her you are very busy but she doesn't care. Line 2," she told him and left the room.

"Mellie, I am a very busy man with not a lot of time to spare. What do you want?" Fitz nearly yelled in the phone.

"Fitz, I am begging you to please come see me. We need to talk. I just need to talk to you," Mellie whined.

"That's what you're doing now. What? I have more important things to do."

"I need to talk to you in person. Please, I'll tell you everything you need to know and let you be on your way. Please, I need your help."

Fitz could hear her slurring her words and mumbling. This Mellie was the one who would beg. The normal Mellie would never imagine begging; it was beneath her. "Where's Andrew? You're drunk again."

"No, I'm not. Fitz, I swear I'm not drunk. I've been drinking but I'm not drunk. I've just had two glasses of hooch that Daddy made but that's it."

"That shit is lethal. No one should drink that unless you are going to die and want to do it quicker. Mellie, this is the thirtieth time you've called me in the past four days. You can't keep doing this. We are not together anymore. I'm with Olivia; she's having a baby any day now. I can't just leave her here."

"Fitz, I swear to God. If you don't come over here so we can talk, I'll call the police and have you arrested for kidnapping my daughter."

"Good luck, Mellie. Karen came willingly and told you where she was going. She's also old enough to decide where she wants to go."

"I'll drink more hooch in an hour than you can scotch in a lifetime. I will kill myself and make sure everyone knows you drove me to it."

"Mellie, do not even joke about killing yourself. You know that I care about you but I don't love you. Why would you want to kill yourself anyway?"

"I have nothing left to live for. Jerry doesn't want me to be in his life. Karen hardly speaks to me. Andrew's threatened to leave with Teddy if I don't stop drinking. Come over here and we will talk or I swear I'll shoot myself and leave a note telling everyone you are the reason why."

"For my sake, Mellie, don't do it. You need to live for Teddy. How is he supposed to grow up without his mother? You can be a better mom to him than you were to Karen and Jerry. This is your do over. Take the second chance to make up for the things you missed out on with them." Fitz could hear in her voice that she was being serious. He just wasn't sure how serious she was. "I have to go. Talk to Andrew. He loves you and will help you through this."

Fitz hung up the phone and rubbed his head.

"She's trying to kill herself?" Cyrus asked. He heard Fitz's side of the conversation but not the whole thing.

"Mellie wants me to come talk to her and says if I don't she'll shoot herself. I don't know what to do. I can't actually leave here and go to her. I don't want to. We aren't together. Olivia needs me here. She could have the baby any day now and I think she'd kill me if I wasn't here for it."

"I think the question here is going to be: who are you more afraid of? Liv or Mellie? Mellie's gone from you. She has a new life with the man that she's loved for a very long time. Liv's with you now. She's also Olivia Pope and has a friend named Huck, who can kill you in a very torturous way. And if you do hurt her, I'm also in line for hurting you."

"I know, Huck would kill me. After Liv would. But I can't just turn my back on twenty years with her. I might not love her but I care about her."

Fitz had gone through the next couple days without hearing from Mellie. He was a little concerned that he hadn't but Karen said she talked to her the day after and Mellie said she was fine.

He was in a joint chiefs meeting when Lauren came in.

"Sir, I'm really sorry to interrupt. I wouldn't normally do this, but it's an emergency. She's been taken to the hospital and she's not doing well," Lauren told Fitz when they stepped into the hall.

"Liv's in labor? Let's go."

"No, Sir. Mellie was taken to the hospital. She's on suicide watch. Her doctor just called. She took half a bottle of sleeping pills and some weird liquor thing, I can't remember what he called it."

"Hooch."

"Yeah, that's it. They pumped her stomach and she's in a drug induced coma for now. They are putting her on suicide watch when they pull her out of it. The doctor said that Andrew isn't able to decide any of her medical care since he isn't on her contact list. It's still listed that you are her medical proxy."

"Cyrus, get Air Force One ready to go. We'll leave as soon as it's ready."

Fitz went up to the Residence to find Liv.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. There's an emergency I have to take care of. I promise I won't be gone long," Fitz said as he packed a bag.

"Fitz where are you going? What's the emergency? Maybe I can help," Olivia tried to slow him down.

"No, you need to rest. You are too pregnant to fly. Stay here with Karen. I'll be back as soon as I can. Cyrus and I have to go handle a situation. Rest Livie. I promise to be back soon." Fitz ran out of the room and down to Marine One to go to Air Force One.

"Did you find that odd?" Olivia asked Karen, sitting on the bed beside her.

"Very."


	24. Contractions

Olivia sat with Karen on the bed going over baby names when Fitz had suddenly come in announcing he was leaving, but not to where. Neither women knew what in the world was going on but went with it. Liv wasn't in any condition to travel and Karen wasn't quite sure whether to interject or leave it alone.

"That was definitely odd. Where would he be going in such a hurry?" Liv asked.

"Whatever it is, it must be important. He didn't even kiss you goodbye," Karen answered.

"I guess he'll call later. I won't worry until there is something to worry about. Marine One is taking off, though. So it must be further than a drive. We'll talk about it later."

Liv had tried to call Fitz's phone several times but no one answered. She couldn't even get through the Secret Service to say where he was. She left him a couple voicemails and headed to bed late that night.

"Dr. Hayne, how is Mellie?" Fitz asked when he arrived at the hospital in California.

"Stable for now. She's sedated but it will wear off in a couple hours. Mellie had her stomach pumped after swallowing half a bottle of sleeping pills with some liquor. Lethal as it is."

"It's hooch. Vodka, tequila, whiskey, bourbon, you name it and it's in it. Her dad makes it and sends it to her all the time. I knew she'd been drinking it but not that much. Did she leave a note?"

"Not that I'm aware off. We aren't sure when it happened. Her boyfriend, Andrew, came in with her. He said he found her on the floor in the kitchen but they hadn't spoken for a couple days. For all we know, she could have been laying there for two days. When she came in, she barely had a pulse. We managed to get her back and stable her heart. If all goes well for the next day, she'll be fine. But we are putting her on a suicide watch when this sedative wears off. I know you two aren't married but we had to call you since you're her medical proxy."

"That's fine, Doctor. Can I see her?"

"Go right in. She'll be a bit groggy and might not be able to respond but you can see her."

Fitz went in to Mellie's room and looked at her for several minutes. She was looking at him, but more through him. She was laying perfectly still with her hands on each side of her. Her skin was pale and her hair hadn't been brushed for days. They had her covered with a blanket and hooked up to heart rate monitors. He moved and sat in the chair next to her, keeping his eyes on her the entire time.

"What were you thinking?"

It was the middle of the night in D.C. and Olivia was lying in bed. She sat up in bed when the pain in her stomach started getting worse.

"Tom!" She yelled. He ran in with gun drawn ready to shoot if needed. "Tom, I think I'm having contractions. Where the hell is Fitz? He's supposed to know about these things."

"How long has this been going on?"

"About an hour. They keep getting stronger. They're only three minutes apart now. Get Karen, we're going to the hospital now. I'm not waiting for him. Keep trying to call. I've been trying but it goes straight to voicemail now."

He sent Daniel in to wake Karen. Tom called for the Presidential ambulance to come to the front and he carried Olivia down to it with Karen trailing behind.

Mellie's sedative had finally worn off and she was able to speak to Fitz.

"What the hell were you thinking? Trying to kill yourself? You must be insane. The kids need you. You're their mom, they need you so much."

"I said I needed to talk to you. If you wouldn't help me then there isn't a reason for me to live."

"What do you need my help with? What can be so important?"

"I missed you. We used to at the very least talk to each other. You would tell me about the bills you were working on. And I could tell you about the things that I had planned as First Lady. I needed help. I started to get addicted to hooch and I couldn't stop. I tried everything to get off it but I couldn't do it. I knew you'd be able to help me. Andrew wants to take Teddy away from me and I really need this second chance."

Fitz took her hand to soothe her from crying. "You didn't need to tell me that in person. I could have done that over the phone to get you the help that you needed. I can send you to rehab and get you the best treatment. I didn't need to come to the other side of the country to help you."

"I wanted to show you that I was trying to make it by myself. And that I just needed a little of your help. And I didn't want Olivia knowing and throwing it in my face."

"Then you don't know Olivia very well. She wouldn't have held it against you, she would have helped you," Fitz told her. He sat back in his chair and talked with her a bit longer. "When you are off suicide watch tomorrow, I will take you to Betty Ford clinic and get you set up there. But you can't call me like this ever again. If you want to call to chat then I will talk to you over the phone."

"You're right. I'm sorry Fitz. Thank you for coming though."


	25. Labor

"Mrs. Grant, you are already ten centimeters dilated. We can't wait any longer. If we wait any longer we will have to do a C-section. You have to start pushing now," the doctor told her.

"No, I can't. Fitz will be here any minute. He promised he would be here. We cleared our schedules. We have to wait a little longer," Olivia yelled.

The doctor pulled Tom to the corner so he could help convince her she needed to push.

"If she doesn't start pushing now, the baby will start to stress and it's likely that it will get its head wrapped around the cord. We are going to have to do it without him."

Karen stood next to Olivia holding her hand while she had contractions every few seconds. She overheard what the doctor said and looked at her. "Liv, we can't wait for Dad anymore. If we wait, the baby could die. I'm here and Jerry is in the waiting room with the gladiators with Tom in here. We're going to help you. You have to push now but you can go Olivia Pope on Dad when he gets here. Think about the baby. Dad will be here for the next one, I promise. You and me can do it together and have this baby. Are you ready to push?"

Olivia listened closely to Karen. She couldn't let the baby die if she had any control over it. Liv grabbed onto Karen and Tom's hand and sat up. "Let's go."

Fitz had sat with Mellie all night in the hospital. When morning came he called the Betty Ford clinic and made arrangements for Mellie to get the help she needed. When the doctor released her at noon Fitz and Cyrus took her over to rehab and helped her get set up.

"Andrew packed some clothes for you so Cyrus went to pick it up. You've been checked in they've got you set up with therapy, group therapy, and some activities that are supposed to help you relax. You're going to get better, Mellie. Andrew says that he will come up and see you a few times a week and he will bring Teddy. You need to just concentrate on getting better," Fitz said.

"Thank you, Fitz. I know it wasn't easy for you to come help me after everything I did to you. We aren't the greatest team but I do appreciate you dropping everything and coming to help me. Especially when Olivia is so pregnant."

"I know. Luckily she isn't due for another couple weeks. But you can't call me like that again. I can help you over the phone for that, I really did not need to fly out here."

"I know. But thank you. I'm sorry I had you come all the way out here."

"One more push, Liv," Karen yelled. "One more and she will be here." Olivia gave another hard push and the baby's head came out. "One more, Liv. I promise. Her head's out just a bit more." She gave another push and the doctor pulled out the baby. "She's so pretty Liv. It is a girl!"

Liv leaned back, exhausted, and let go of the death grip she had on Karen's and Tom's hand. "Thank you, so much, you two! I can't thank you enough. I couldn't do it without you."

"You did great, Mrs. Grant. Your daughter is really adorable," Tom told her.

"Tom, I thing you can call me Olivia now. I crushed your hand. And you've seen parts of me that only Fitz has seen lately," she told him. "Did anyone get in touch with Fitz?"

"No ma'am. Not yet. We've called Mr. Beene too and his details are trying to let him know but he says he's not to be interrupted."

"Liv, don't worry about Dad right now. The nurse is going to bring my sister in and you can finally hold her," Karen said. The nurse brought in the baby wrapped in a pink blanket and put her in Olivia's arms. "She's so cute, Liv. Did you and Dad pick out a name?"

"What do you think her name should be? He wasn't here so you can help me name her."

"Really?" Karen was excited to help name her. "What about Liberty? No middle name."

"Liberty Grant. I love it, Karen! It's perfect for her."

Olivia handed Liberty to Karen to hold and told Tom that everyone could come in now. Everyone came in a held the baby and left Liv to sleep.

Fitz spent the rest of the day with Mellie, getting her settled into rehab and letting her vent about things. She told him that Andrew was great and that she did love him she just missed her life with Fitz. Mellie quickly continued that she didn't want it back but she was having a hard time adjusting to not having anything she had to do.

"I'm glad that you're getting help. And that you're happy with Andrew. I'm sorry things didn't work out between us. I do need to get going."

"I'm sorry too but I know you love Olivia now. You both deserve to be happy. Thank you for coming out."

Fitz left the room and went to the lobby where he was immediately greeted by Cyrus and his details.

"Oh good, you're here, finally," Cyrus scrambled to him.

"Slow down, what's wrong?"

"We have important things to do before you can go on paternity leave. You shouldn't have even been here. When Olivia finds out, she's going to kill you."

Olivia and Liberty were released the next day and Fitz still wasn't back yet. He hadn't called anyone at the hospital. Liv stayed in bed for the day with Liberty in the bassinet next to her. Karen had made sure that she had anything she needed knowing that Liv was upset about Fitz not being there.

Fitz arrived around two in the afternoon at the White House. He went through the Rose Garden and was met with Liv's details.

"Sir, we've been trying to reach you. No one answered your phone or Mr. Beene's. We've tried every way to get in touch with you. Your agents couldn't get in contact with us here," Tom said.

"Tom, what's going on?" Fitz was concerned with Tom's rambling.

"Mr. President, Mrs. Grant had the baby yesterday morning."

"SHE WHAT! She's not due for another couple weeks. Have the limo drive around, we're going to the hospital."

"No need, Sir. Mrs. Grant is in the residence with your daughters and Jerry."


	26. Silence

"I told you not to go. I warned you that this would happen," Cyrus yelled at him all the way to the Residence. "I knew this would happen. You left and told her that you were going to see Mellie and she went into labor. And you weren't here for it. I wasn't even here for it. Now we are both in trouble!"

"You're more than in trouble!" Karen yelled when she heard them come up the stairs. "And not just with her. Do you have any idea what I had to do to make her have that baby? The both of you are in so much trouble!"

"Is Liv okay? The baby? How are they doing?" Fitz asked in the scariest voice he had. He knew he messed up big time with this one and he was sure to get a big lecture from Liv.

"They are both doing perfectly fine, no thanks to you. She's asleep in her room with my sister."

"It's a girl?"

"Yes, she's perfect. Seven pounds, eleven ounces, sixteen inches. She has Liv's eyes and mouth but your hair. Liv let me pick out her name because you weren't there. Where were you?"

"I'll explain that to you later. What's her name?"

"Her name's…"

"Liberty," Liv said when she came into the living room. "Now that I can see for myself that you are alive and not in the middle of the desert laying for dead, I'll be going back to sleep."

"Wait, Livie. I'm sorry. I know I messed up. How are you?"

"I'm fine, just tired. I just fed Liberty and she went back to sleep. I'm going to do the same. If you come into the bedroom be quiet. Thank you for all your help today Karen. I think your Dad can do something now. Go have some fun with Jerry on the tennis court. I'll see you at dinner." Karen went in search of Jerry and left them alone. "Cyrus, James has been looking for you. Go home." He didn't need to be told twice and ran out of the room.

"Liv, I just…"

"I don't want to talk about it. We can discuss whatever you want later. Liberty is asleep and I'd like to be too. I'm glad you're home safe. We have a press conference tomorrow to announce that she is here. I've handled all the details and it's ready to go primetime tomorrow night with Kimberly. Hopefully, you will make it. I cleared your schedule for tomorrow night." Olivia lay down in the bed and gently rocked the bassinet for her daughter.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here. I'll be here from now on."

"I said, I do not want to discuss it," Olivia yelled in a whisper.

"Okay, I'm sorry."

Fitz and Olivia gave an interview with Kimberly Mitchell the next night and showed her the nursery, even giving her the chance to hold Liberty.

When the interview was over, Olivia went to lay in bed and read a book before Liberty's last feeding for a couple hours. Fitz came in and sat next to her looking at his daughter. He'd tried to apologize to Olivia multiple times for not being there when she needed him but she only told him she didn't want to talk about it. She hardly spoke to him about anything since he returned. And if they did talk, it was only about Liberty.

It had gone on like that for three weeks. The silence was deafening to him. Fitz could feel that she was shutting him out. He asked Karen how she thought Liv was doing and she told him that he was still in trouble. Karen, Jerry, and Tom were about the only people Olivia talked to since Liberty's birth.

"She's shutting me out," Fitz told Cyrus a couple weeks later after a meeting in the Oval. Liberty was a little over six weeks old now and he would spend as much time as he could with her.

"It's your own fault," Cyrus responded. "You left to go to Mellie. You wanted to be rid of her and then you turn around and go see her. Don't feel too bad though. Olivia's been avoiding me too. She hasn't said a word to me since we came back. She's probably blaming me for you not being there at the hospital."

"Karen said she's more than pissed with me. I feel like we're nearly back to the whole Amanda thing. She barely talks to me. Even when we're in bed, she faces away from me and doesn't say a word. No matter how many times I apologize, she won't let me. She changes the subject to Liberty or she leaves the room. I don't think I can take this much longer. Being married to her lately has turned into almost like being married to Mellie. We don't talk unless it's about the kids. We don't have sex or even kiss. I'm tired of this. Tonight, I'll have to make her talk to me."

"Good luck with that. Remember though, she's a Grant by marriage; you're still dealing with Olivia Pope. That will never change."

Fitz asked Karen and Jerry to take care of Liberty for the night so he and Olivia could talk. They agreed and went to Liberty's room. He went to their bedroom to find Liv but instead found her in her office.

"We need to talk."

"Where's Liberty? She needs to be fed in half an hour."

"Karen and Jerry are taking care of her now. We really need to talk. Can we please do that?"

"I'm really busy here. The state dinner is next week and the guest list hasn't been approved yet. And there's nothing to talk about. Unless we are discussing the dinner."

"Livie, we have a lot more to discuss than that. You're shutting me out."

"I am not. We sleep in the same bed, we talk, we communicate. I'm not shutting you out. I'm just busy. We both are. Our schedules haven't been fixed to do more than that."

"Courtesy of you," he added. Fitz saw her face turn into confusion. "Your secretary told me that you've been adding things to your schedule when you know that I'll be back in the Residence. You are shutting me out. At least don't deny that. I get that you're angry with me. If it makes you feel any better, I'll let you hit me. I won't stop you. Come on; give me your best shot." Fitz sat down ready to take whatever blow he was going to get from her. "You know you want to hit me, do it."

"Fitzgerald, you are being ridiculous. I don't have time for your games. Hitting you solves nothing. If you want to talk, make it fast."

"I know that you're still mad at me for not being here when you went into labor. And I am truly sorry about that. You needed me and I wasn't here. I can't change that, as much as I want to. I had an emergency that had to be taken care of in California. I'm sorry. I should have told you where I was going before I left."

"You're right, you should have. Because you didn't, I was stressed out and went into labor early. Luckily it wasn't early enough to harm Liberty. You could have just told me what kind of emergency it was."

Fitz ran a hand through his hair, slowly breathing. "It wasn't a big emergency, it was just made to sound like one so I would get there sooner."

"You were gone for two days. I had to give birth with the help of an agent and your daughter. They were wonderful and very helpful but they weren't you. You were supposed to be there. No one could get in touch with you or any agent. We didn't know where you were. What am I supposed to do if something happened to you? I waited as long as I could for you to get there. But the doctor said that if I waited any longer it would kill our daughter. I had to choose. Wait for you or keep our daughter alive."

"You chose right. I'm glad you came to your senses about that. I'm sorry I missed it but you were right to proceed."

"Karen had to convince me of it. She bargained with me. I can go Olivia Pope on you when you got back." Olivia moved toward him and slapped him upside the head. "What do I know about giving birth? You were there for three of them. I've read the damn books and the shit they tell you to do to prepare for it but it never said how much it was going to hurt and you of all people had to be on the other side of the country. I know your job is important and people all over the world count on you but what about me. The one day that I need to count on you and you can't even pick up the damn phone."

"I know. We were in a hurry to leave and I left my phone on my desk. Cyrus and I didn't realize we didn't have our phones until we returned. Livie, I'm really really sorry. I promise on my life, I will be there for the next one."

"Who said I wanted to have another?"

"We can talk about that much later." Fitz pulled her to his lap and kissed her for the first time in seven weeks.


	27. Dinner

"Can you zip me up please?" Olivia asked Fitz. They were getting ready for the State Dinner. Liv put on a long white evening gown with gold trim around the top and down the sides. She threw half her hair up into a pony tail and curled the rest.

"If you straighten my tie." He walked over to her and zipped the back of her dress and kissed her neck. She turned around and fixed his tie and kissed his lips. "Do you think we should really go?"

"It's the State Dinner, we have to go. Your speech has been written and everyone is waiting."

"What about Liberty?"

"She's with her siblings. They take very good care of her. And the nanny is still here. She's going to stay here all night. Liberty will be fine." Olivia slipped her shoes on. "They will be fine."

The two went to kiss the kids goodnight and went down to the dinner. They greeted everyone as they walked in. When it seemed that everyone invited had arrived they went to dance and enjoy dinner.

"The prime minister is looking for you," Cyrus said as he came to find them.

"Go find him, I'll be fine Fitz. I'm going to talk to Cyrus for a minute." He kissed her cheek and walked away. "You're forgiven, Cy. I know it was an emergency. Don't worry about it."

"I'm forgiven? What about him?"

"He's not forgiven so easily. He missed our child's birth. I know he has a demanding job but he didn't even say where he was going."

"Liv, he didn't tell you?"

"No, he…"

"Olivia! There you are."

Olivia turned her head and saw Mellie coming towards her. "Um, hi Mellie. How are you?"

"I'm doing great. I wanted to thank you for letting me borrow Fitz for a couple days a couple months ago. I wanted to call you and thank you but I thought I could do it in person. He helped me a lot," Mellie told her.

"Mellie, I wanted to discuss something with you," Cyrus interrupted.

"No, wait," Olivia stopped them. "Mellie, what are you talking about? When did Fitz come see you?"

"Liv, we have other people that we need you to say hello to," Cyrus stalled. Olivia turned and gave Cyrus an evil look, telling him not to interrupt again. "I am going to get a refill, I'll get you one too."

"Mellie, what are you talking about? Fitz came to see you? When?"

"I guess it was a couple months ago, when you had the baby. She's adorable by the way. Liberty? It's a cute name."

"Thank you, Karen picked it out. Why did he come to see you?"

"He helped me get into rehab. I got addicted to alcohol. Funny right? I thought Fitz would always be the one to get addicted. But it was me. I called him and asked for his help. He took me to Betty Ford clinic and I got the help I needed. I'm all better now. I haven't had a drink in a month. He calls and checks on me every Wednesday and Sunday. I really appreciate him helping me. And you for letting him. I know I haven't been the best person to you and you still let him help me. Thank you so much." Mellie hugged Olivia. "I should go find Andrew. He was going to get our coats."

"Mayday, you have a problem," Cyrus came up behind Fitz.

Fitz finished his drink and set the glass on the table. "Now what?"

"Mellie's here."

"I know, she told me."

"Well, thanks for the heads up."

"Yeah, you're welcome. What's going on?"

"She's talking to Liv."

"Fuck, no. They can't talk. This is bad, bad, bad. Where are they?"

"I left them by the entrance."

Fitz went to find Olivia. She was talking to the Ambassador of France.

"There's my amazing wife. Hello Ambassador. Enjoying this evening?" Fitz put his arm around Liv's shoulder and she lightly slid her way out of his arm, a motion not unnoticed by Fitz but was oblivious to the Ambassador.

"It's been a great evening. And Mrs. Grant has been very kind to help me with a problem. I will let the two of you enjoy the rest of the night. Thank you, Mrs. Grant. I will call your firm in the morning."

Olivia saw Sally coming towards them as Fitz wrapped his arm around her waist. She turned her head towards him with a smile on her face and teeth clench. "Get your hands off of me."

Fitz immediately took his hands away from her when Sally approached them.

"Things look great, Mrs. Grant."

"Call me Olivia. And thank you. I'm glad everyone enjoyed tonight. I'll let the two of you talk. I should go check on Liberty. Have a nice night, Sally."

Olivia went upstairs to the kids.

"Hey what are you doing up?"

Karen was sitting in the nursery watching Liberty sleep.

"Her feeding time is in about ten minutes. She didn't finish the bottle I gave her earlier so we wanted to keep an eye on her. Did you have fun at the party?" Karen asked.

"It was fine," Olivia said. She moved across the room and started putting clothes and diapers in the diaper bag.

"Hey, Liv. What's wrong? Why are you packing?"

"I just need to get out of here, sweetie. Liberty and I are going to go to the apartment. Your father is such an ass. How the hell could he not tell me that he was going to see Mellie? Of all the people in the world to go help, he had to help her and not tell me. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that he was able to help her. But why the hell didn't he tell me?" Olivia turned around to get the baby wipes and saw Karen. "Shit, sweetie, I'm sorry. I don't mean for you to hear all of that. I'm sounding like Mellie."

"No, it's alright Liv. Why would he help mom?"

"Kare, I'll let him explain things to you. I want to be gone before he comes back up here. Will you put Liberty in her car seat please?"

"Liv, let me come with you. You're upset and shouldn't be alone right now. I'll pack a bag and come with you."

"I can't ask you to do that."

"You aren't asking, I'm telling you. I'll come with you to the apartment and help with Liberty. It's no problem."

"Alright, but do it quickly please."

Liv put Liberty in her car seat and went to her bedroom packing a bag for herself. She called for Tom to have a driver come around. He took her bags and Karen's to the car. Quickly, Liv and Karen got in putting Liberty between them and went back to her apartment.

Fitz tried to rush through the goodbyes to everyone and make his way up to the Residence. He poked his head into Liberty's room and saw she wasn't there. He continued down the hall to his bedroom and saw that neither Liv or Liberty was in there. He called out for her a couple times before Jerry appeared.

"They left."


	28. Scotch

"They left? Liv and Liberty?" Fitz asked when he came upstairs.

"And Karen. You missed them by five minutes," Jerry told him.

"Did she say why?"

"I just heard something about you being an ass."

"Your mother has the biggest mouth on her. She can't keep a damn word to herself. Liv didn't need to know what I was doing in California. It wasn't a big deal."

"What were you doing in California?"

"I was taking your mother to rehab. She got addicted to that hooch shit your grandfather makes and couldn't stop. She took half a bottle of sleeping pills with it and the doctor called me since I'm still on her emergency list. We've been divorced for months, by now, you would think she would change it to Andrew." Fitz saw the worry on Jerry's face. "She's fine now. She was just at the dinner downstairs. Attempting to ruin my life, and succeeding apparently. She hasn't had a drink in a month."

"How do you know?"

"I talk to her twice a week. But Liv doesn't know, so don't say anything."

Jerry sat down next to him on the couch and patted his back. "Sorry to tell you this. Judging by how mad Liv was, she knows. And she knows everything."

Olivia opened the door to her apartment and let Tom and Karen in. After setting the bags down, they took off the tarps covering the furniture and opened a couple windows.

"Tom, the guest bedroom is still made up if you care to sleep here. Karen can sleep in my bed with me. I'm heading to bed, goodnight."

She took Liberty into the bedroom with her and pulled her out of the car seat, snuggling into bed with her. After a few minutes Karen changed into her pajamas and went to the other side of the bed.

Fitz finished a bottle of Scotch in an hour and went to bed. When he woke up in the morning and changed, he went down to the Oval and was met with Cyrus.

"You two didn't work anything out last night, did you?"

"No, she left before I could even leave the dinner."

"What do you mean 'she left'? Are you trying to tell me the First Lady has not let you know where she is? Liv has meetings today. Very important meetings."

"Cyrus, chill out. I know where she is. Well, one of three places. Tom is with her. She's fine. Physically she is. Mentally and emotionally probably not. She's probably thought of a hundred ways to kill me by now. Or she's telling Huck and he's doing it for her."

"We've already had one assassination attempt on your life, we don't need another."

"Jerry said she probably knows everything. Liv took Liberty and Karen with her. I'll call Karen and see what's going on. I just want to make sure that everyone is safe and sound."

Fitz picked up the phone and called Karen. It was almost ten in the morning so he thought everyone would be up.

"She doesn't want to talk to you," Karen answered the phone. She looked at the caller id and told Liv who refused to say a word to him, so she went to the bedroom and closed the door.

"But she's okay? And you and Liberty? Everyone's okay?"

"Physically, yes. I can't believe you would do that to her. Liv was pregnant with your child. YOUR CHILD. And you left to go see Mom? That's low."

"Karen, please. Don't yell. I have a headache."

"Stay out of the Scotch and you wouldn't get one."

"How did you know?"

"I know you very well, and Jerry texted me. You left your eight and a half month pregnant wife to go see your ex-wife. That's so not fair to Liv. You said you wanted to be rid of mom and then you are, then you go back to help her. What's that about?"

"Your mom needed my help. She was addicted to the hooch and couldn't stop. I had to help her. I owed her. Now we're even. I talked to her last night about it. She agreed that we're even and that she would only contact me if it had something to do with you or Jerry. She told me everything she said to Liv. I didn't know she was going to be there. Your mom told her everything. About me helping her into rehab and how I call to check on her twice a week. I just wanted to make sure that she was alright. Now that I know she is, we can both move on. Will you please tell Liv that I'm done with Mellie, and that I'm sorry I hurt her? I didn't mean to hurt her. I wasn't thinking clearly. Give Liberty a kiss for me, sweetie. I promise to talk to you soon."

"It's not me you need to talk to. Liv's pretty hurt by this. You're going to have to think of a big way to apologize."

"I will. I'll see you soon."

Karen hung up and went back to the kitchen where Liv was making breakfast.

"What did he have to say?"

"He's really sorry that he hurt you. He thought he owed her and that you knew now about him going to see Mom while you were having Liberty and that you know now that he calls to check on her twice a week. But he's really…"

"What?"

"What part did I confuse you?"

"HE calls HER twice a week?"

"That's what he just told me. He said you knew about that."

"No, not at all. That part was left out."

Fitz hung up with Karen and turned to Cyrus. "She's alright but very pissed at me. I don't blame her. If the situation was reversed, I'd be pissed too. Cancel my appointments this afternoon. I'll go see her after lunch."


	29. Great

Fitz grabbed his coat and went to the limo to go to the apartment and talk to Liv. He hadn't slept well without her the night before but he knew that she would need time to cool off. Hopefully, the night and morning would be enough. He knocked on the door and Karen answered it.

"She's playing with Liberty," she answered the unspoken question.

He went over to her and sat on the floor next to Liv. "Hey princess, I missed you," Fitz said as he kissed Liberty's cheek. Olivia handed her to him and got up. She was still pissed off at him. Liv went to the table and opened her laptop working on her schedule for the next week. Fitz gave Liberty to Karen and followed her over. "I'm sorry."

"I don't care."

"Livie, I am sorry. I should have told you that I was going to see Mellie and why I was going. It was wrong of me not to tell you."

"No, it was wrong of you to go," she said not looking at him.

He closed the top of her computer so they could really talk. "You're right. I shouldn't have gone. It's just… she needed my help."

"You're not her husband! Andrew is supposed to help her. She isn't your problem anymore. We worked so hard to make her not your problem and you still run to her side. Mellie is with Andrew and you are supposed to be with me. It's the way you wanted it. I did my best to make sure you got what you wanted. And you got it. Am I not enough? You have to have both of us to be happy?"

"You are more than enough. I don't want her. Liv, she asked for my help and I had to help her. She was addicted to alcohol. I only went to help her into rehab. She still had me as her medical proxy. Mellie tried to kill herself."

Olivia crossed her arms and sat back. "She's supposed to be with Andrew. You didn't have to help her. You wanted to help her. You could have done all of that over the phone."

"I know. I should have been here with you. You were too pregnant to go anywhere I went to help her."

"And missed the birth of your first child. YOUR first child. Not one that she told you was yours but wasn't. You had to go help your ex-wife when I needed you. The one time I admit I need your help and you aren't there."

Fitz knelt down beside her and took her hand in his. "I should have been there. I wanted to be there. There's no excuse for not being there for you. I didn't think you would have the baby so soon. And I don't know why you weren't able to get in contact with me. I'm sorry."

"It's not just that, Fitz. You call her to check in. She doesn't call you. You call her. You don't make this easy for me. You can't have us both. I'm not Mellie. I care about your ratings but I won't let you cheat on me like you did with her. I suffered through Amanda and cleaned it up but I won't do it again. I won't share you with her. I love you but I can't play the nearly silent wife who holds your affair over your head. It's not right."

"I love you so much, Livie. I won't put you through another Amanda thing. I don't want Mellie. I want you, I finally have you after several years of waiting and chasing you. There's no one in the world more perfect than you are for me. We belong together. You own me. I can't apologize enough for going to see Mellie without telling you. Or that I call to check on her. I talked to her last night and we agreed that we would not have any contact with each other unless it was about Jerry or Karen. And if we do, I'll be sure to tell you first thing. I can't lose you. I'll do anything for you to forgive me."

"There's nothing you could do that I wouldn't forgive. Not a thing. But I don't see why you had to spend two days in California to help her. She was in the hospital and then you took her to rehab. That should only be a few hours, not two days," Olivia said. She noticed the look on Fitz face. He seemed to look guilty, but she summed it up to having to miss Liberty's first arrival. "We have Liberty and I couldn't love you any more for giving her to me. We have Vermont and it's going to be great."

Fitz smiled at her. "And it's going to be great."


	30. (Author's Note)

**Thank you all for your comments both negative and positive. I wanted to let all of you know that Chapter 30, that was posted last night, has been deleted. I decided to try a different way. I want you all to know that I do read every review. Each and every one of them is read by me. Thank you for posting your comments though. **

**Anyone who has read Chapter 30 should forget what was said. **

**The comments that people have posted as reviews for Chapter 30 called Slap have been somewhat rude and hurtful. But I do appreciate your comments. Please give this story another chance if you can. Currently, I am trying to think of someway to move this story along.**

**Either way, thank you all for reading!**

**~ Author**


	31. Vermont

"James! I told you not to rip the head off that Barbie," Olivia yelled at her son. "Apologize to your sister."

James looked down at his feet. "Sorry, Carly."

Olivia fed the children their dinner and waited for Fitz to come home. He had been gone a week for the opening of his shelter for women in D.C. and because Liberty, James, and Carly were sick with the flu, Olivia had to stay home in Vermont. Fitz had said that he would stay if she wanted but she insisted that he go.

She put all three children to bed and worked on the jam she was making.

"Hi, Livie," Fitz said as he kissed her neck from behind her.

"Hi. I'm glad you're home," Liv said as she turned around to see him.

"I missed you too. How were the kids?"

"Great. They missed you too. How did the opening go?"

"It's sad how many homeless people there are in D.C. We were full the very first night. So many children. They want to open another on the other side of the city. I told them to go for it. How are you though?"

"I'm good, I just want to finish this jam and then we can go to bed."

"I told you that you'd have it."

"Have what?"

"Our children, me, jam, the house, everything. I promised you that you would have it."

"And I'm glad you followed through."


End file.
